Disco workers' strike: Kaduna and three other northern states experience a blackout

Due to an industrial action by Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company employees, inhabitants of Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states are currently without power.

The workers, who staged a protest against what they perceived to be unfair treatment by the company’s management, went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday under the banner of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees.

According to information obtained by The PUNCH, the employees were upset about a number of issues, including six years’ worth of unpaid pensions, the company’s failure to pay the death benefits of its deceased employees, the unjust dismissal of seven Zaria-based employees, and a purported plan to fire over a thousand employees.

But in a statement sent by Abdulazeez Abdullahi, Head of Corporate Communication at Kaduna Disco, the management denounced the strike, calling it “utterly unjustified.”

“It says a lot about the union’s motive that it chose this path at the very beginning of the holy month of Ramadan and inflicts more discomfort on unfortunate Nigerians by going on an ill-advised strike and preventing staff from performing their legitimate duties,” Abdulazeez stated.

The union’s demand for reimbursement of unpaid pension arrears “is part of the historic debts accumulated under two previous managements,” Abdulazeez revealed.

“One wonders why the union failed to prioritise the payments then until now. This is a clear indication that the union has other motives yet unknown to us.”