Oil Workers' Strike Causes Drop in Electricity Generation to 3086MW

By Chineme Okafor 

Nigeria’s overall electricity generation profile has dropped to about 3,086.10 megawatts (MW), owing to the ongoing strike by workers in the country’s oil and gas sector.

The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, yesterday confirmed that the industrial action embarked upon by the oil workers across the country was affecting gas supply to key thermal generation plants in the country, hence, the drop in power supply.

Although, Nebo did not state the quantity of drop in the country’s electricity generation, the daily generation profile obtained from the ministry’s website indicated that the recent generation growth that was recorded has sharply dropped to 3,086.10MW, starting from Tuesday when the strike took off  fully.

I a related development, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs  Diezani Allison-Madueke and leaders of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) yesterday refused to honour the invitation of the
joint House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream & Upstream) and Gas Resources.The meeting was meant to forestall the planned  nationwide strike by the aforementioned unions.

The minister of power in a statement from the ministry in Abuja said that the workers’ action has begun to impact on gas supply to the power plants. He thus called on them to call off their industrial action.

Nebo observed that the actions taken by members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN in the course of their ongoing strike have cut off gas supply to major power stations including Egbin, AES, Olorunsogo, Geregu and Sapele.

Members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN had embarked on a country-wide strike in protest of the sudden withdrawal by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) of the operational licence it gave to the NNPC to run an in-house pension fund management company for its workers.

They had also cited delays in the commencement of the planned Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of the country’s refineries as well as restoration of crude supply to refineries as parts of the reasons for their strike.

Nebo regretted the adverse effect of this development on power supply at a time when government had recorded substantial progress in solving the gas problem, thereby raising peak generation in recent weeks to an average of 4,500, with a spinning reserve of about 300 MW.

He therefore, decried the current setback arising from the oil and gas workers’ action which he said has really affected supply of gas-to-power stations and reduced power generation.

“This has inevitably led to a drastic reduction in power supply across the country,” he said in the statement.

The minister thus assured that efforts were on to ensure a speedy and amicable resolution of the matter and appealed for the understanding of electricity consumers affected by the development.

While appreciating the concerns and fears of the workers, the minister also appealed to members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to take into consideration, the enormous damage their action does on the socio-economic life of the country and return to work.

Nebo, who also inspected Apo substation where a weather-induced explosion occurred during the week, assessed the extent of damage there. He was assured by engineers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that efforts were on to restore supply to parts of Abuja affected by the incident by Friday this week.

Meanwhile, The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs  Diezani Allison-Madueke and leaders of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG) yesterday refused to honour the invitation of the
joint House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream & Upstream) and Gas Resources. The meeting was meant to forestall the planned  nationwide strike by the aforementioned unions.

However, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Joseph Dawah, who also didn't show up described the lingering crisis is “an internal affair.”

According to Dawah, in the letter delivered by a liaison officer of the NNPC, the strike issue is an "internal matter" which will be resolved soon. Dawah said: "NNPC is currently engaging the unions" and that he was "confident that in no time, our staff will go back to work."

But Hon. Muraina Ajibola, who presided over the session, at which the members waited for the invited officials for about two hours, said there was the need for the Committee to send the right signal to the Executive and Nigerians over the persistent shunning of summons  by Allison-Madueke and others.

Other lawmakers also followed Muraina's line of argument. Hon. Asita Honourable, Hon. Emmanuel Jime and Hon. Abdulmalik Cheche, urged the House to invoke appropriate sections of the Constitution to sanction erring officials who disregard Orders and resolutions of the Parliament.

He dismissed the NNPC's letter and appealed to the members to “protect the authority and integrity of the Parliament,” adding that
“this looks more like the military era where power is concentrated in one arm of government.”

“The impunity is growing by the day. As we speak, there are companies owned by these individuals that when we invite them, they will not appear,” he emphasised.
Jime, who is also the chairman, House Committee on FCT, said Allison-Madueke and others' absence was a “deliberate attempt by the agencies of federal government to prevent the National Assembly from performing its duties.

“It’s becoming a recurring decimal in nearly every committee. I think the time has come for the Parliament to exert its authority otherwise…because we’ve been lenient that’s why they have been taking us for granted.

However, Hon.  Peter Akpatason, counselled his colleagues that they needed to be cautious. “I want us to put this issue in context so that whatever action we take does not at the end of the day impede the process, rather than to promote peace.

This is an industrial relations issue we are talking about. The strike action is on, and when there is a strike action, it is expected that the parties be brought together for a discussion to ensure amicable resolution of issues," he said.

"As it stands now, what I extract from the letter here is that the two parties are already discussing. And I want to believe that our interest as parliament is to ensure that these parties are brought to the table to discuss so that the issues can be addressed," he added.

He further added: "And so if they are already doing that, I am of the opinion that we should rather support the ongoing process. The tripod of employers, workers, and government works in such a way that government facilitates positive industrial relations outcome. Now that they have already initiated internal processes to address the issue, I am of the strong opinion that this Parliament should as a matter of fact support the ongoing process."

He also indicated that: “But for every other failure on the part of government agencies or functionaries to honour the invitations of this House, appropriate action can be taken. But if we take an action that will undermine the internal process they have already triggered, I think it might not produce the right results.”

Hon. Dakuku Peterside also was circumspect in his contribution: “For me there are three independent issues, one, that the GMD of NNPC made reference to the issue at stake as an internal issue of the NNPC. NNPC is a state corporation 100 percent owned and operated by the government on behalf of the people.

The impact of any strike of workers of NNPC can only be imagined will affect Nigerians in two dimensions. It will affect our economy because we are a largely a monoproduct-economy.”

The joint committee resolved that the Minister and other parties should appear before it on Tuesday September 23,  2014 by 11am.

Culled from http://www.thisdaylive.com