Major Trade Union Strike Shuts Down Nigeria’s Electricity Grid

The largest trade unions in Nigeria shut down on Monday the country’s power grid in an indefinite nationwide strike over the minimum wage.

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said that the Labour Union had shut down the national grid, resulting in a nationwide blackout in the early morning on Monday.

“At about 1:15 am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten,” the company said.  

Several transmission substations were also shut down.

“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19 am,” TCN said.

About an hour later, TCN began grid recovery, but as of 11 a.m. local time the situation was such “that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.”

Major trade unions Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress called an indefinite strike in the country, the fourth strike in the country since President Bola Tinubu took office last year, over disagreements about the minimum wage in the country.

The unions initiated the strike in response to the government’s refusal to agree to their proposed minimum wage. They also demand that an electricity tariff hike for better-off consumers be reversed. The government hiked last month the tariff for consumers using more electricity as it seeks to reduce subsidies in the economy.  

Nigeria’s foreign exchange and government revenues continue to be heavily dependent on energy exports.  

President Tinubu and the national oil and gas firm NNPC have vowed to ramp up production of oil and gas to boost revenues for the country.

Oil theft and pipeline vandalism have long plagued Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry, driving majors out of the country and often resulting in force majeure at the key crude oil export terminals.

Nigerian oil production has started to recover in recent months and hit in February its highest level in more than three years amid a concerted effort to crack down on targeted attacks and organized theft rings.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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