Textile Union pickets Ikeja electric over power supply

The National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, (NUTGTWN) has picketed the office of Ikeja Electric over disconnecting electricity supply to Nichemtex factory in Ikorodu and Cotsyn, Ilupeju.

 

The workers during a protest to the office of Ikeja Electric lamented about the economy effects of the non-availability of light at their factories, thereby hindering production and risking their jobs.

‎This development made the textile workers led by their President; Comrade John Adaji, to march from the NUTGTWN office on Acme Road, Lagos to the Alausa office of Ikeja Electric to picket the distribution company.

 

The development was said to have forced the two companies to shut down operations for the past three months.

 

The workers occupied the office insisting the DISCO would not operate until they restored electricity to the two factories.

General Secretary of the union, Comrade Issa Aremu, said Nichemtex which employs about 3,500 workers had been crippled by the distribution company.

 

He disclosed that the disconnection of the factory came after it had already paid over N70m to the DISCO while negotiation was still ongoing.

Aremu explained that the bone of contention was that the company was ready to pay the DISCO but the metering system being given to the factory was not the one that the Federal Government approved for manufacturers.

 

He said while the approved tariff for manufacturing concerns was 2.0, the DISCO is charging the factory 2.1 amounting to millions of Naira which is unacceptable and too high for the factory to bear.

According to him, the power sector reform carried out about three years had virtually “killed most industries.”

 

The Federal Government’s determination to revive industries would be a mirage without the distribution companies providing support in terms of regular electricity supply to the companies.

 

Aremu noted that other DISCOs like the Eko Distribution Company are doing well but Ikeja Electric needs to improve on its relationship with customers by stopping arbitrary charges.

 

“Nichemtex which is the largest textile factory we have today in Lagos and in fact West African sub- region and employs 3000 direct jobs, that company has been shut down not because of lack of raw materials, not because of lack of workers, not because of lack of finance for the company to work but because Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company decided arbitrarily, undemocratically and even criminally to disconnect the company.”