By Achadu Gabriel, Kaduna
Kaduna State Government has intervened in the ongoing industrial dispute between electricity distribution firm, Kaduna Electric, and its workers’ union, which resulted in outage in all its franchise states for five days.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, who hosted the meeting at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House on Thursday, pleaded with the union to restore electricity to consumers as soon as possible because the outage has impacted negatively across all sectors.
Dr Balarabe implored the management and the union to find a common ground to ensure the resolution of their differences, as the lack of power has badly affected homes, businesses and came with attendant security implications.
She noted that the management and workers of Kaduna Electric need each other and that they should continue to dialogue on a regular basis even when the present impasse has been resolved.
Speaking earlier, National Vice President (Distribution), National Union of Electricity Employees, (NUEE), Comrade Wisdom Chidi Nwachukwu, said that the union is not against the downsizing of workers by the firm, but wants due process to be followed and all their entitlements paid.
Comrade Nwachukwu pointed out that both the union, management and workers of Kaduna Electric are members of the same family but as the workers’ representatives, they want the management to follow laid down procedure in pruning down the size of the workforce.
The union leader promised that him and other officials will communicate the Deputy Governor’s plea to their headquarters, pledging that the matter will be resolved soon.
In his presentation, the Managing Director (MD) of Kaduna Electric, Malam Umar Abubakar Hashidu, said that the management was looking at efficiency, progress and sustainability of the company in taking the decision to downsize, clarifying that a total of 444 workers were laid off.
According to him, the company will be unable to meet basic obligations like payment of salaries and may ultimately fold up, if action was not taken by the management.
Malam Hashidu added that the two parties will hold another round of meeting with a third party, promising that the matter will be resolved soon.
The meeting was attended by senior government officials such as Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr AbdulKadir Muazu Meyere; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Sani Liman Kila; Special Adviser on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr Fabia Okoye; and the MD of Kaduna Power Supply Company, Engr Idris Aminu Idris.
