Heavy security presence at airports, seaports, others – Nigerians in darkness as labour resumes strike

By Ezurike ugochukwu

Nigeria’s organised Labour early hours of Monday shut down the national grid to press their demand for better living wage. Not done, they blocked access to airports in the country.
As at this morning, hundreds of passengers were frustrated at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport owing to the nationwide industrial action declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) which grounded commercial operations at the airport.

Nation update gathered that hours later, a senior airport staff informed the anxious passengers that there would be no flight from the airport until they get directive from NLC to commence flight operations.
Intending travellers have been left stranded as all entry points of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos are inaccessible, following the strike.
A video clip that surfaced online showed intending passengers at Lagos airport lamenting over their inability to access the airport, action which has resulted in the suspension of all flight operations from the airport.
The Lagos ports were not left out. As at this morning, heavy security presence was visible at the entrances of all the ports in Lagos. Workers under the aegis of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) an affiliate of the NLC joined their mother union and the TUC by shutting down the nation’s ports of Tin-Can, Apapa and Lekki Ports.
Security officials were visibly watching from a distance just as many port users were seen standing in groups and some twos at the front gates of these ports.
A report by Nation Update this morning stated that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has announced a nationwide blackout following the shutdown of the national grid by organised Labour. The shutdown occurred at approximately 2:19 am on June 3, 2024.
The general manager of Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, revealed in a statement that Labour Union members, around 1:15 am, forcibly removed control room operators from TCN’s Benin Transmission Operator unit. Staff who resisted were beaten, resulting in injuries. Consequently, the Benin Area Control Center was rendered inoperative.

The Labour Union also shut down several other transmission substations, including Ganmo, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo.
On the power generation, multiple generating stations were affected.

The Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its units, with three additional units shutting down due to high frequency. These sudden forced load cuts led to system instability, ultimately causing the national grid to shut down.

TCN began efforts to recover the grid at around 3:23 am, utilising the Shiroro Substation to attempt to supply electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. However, the Labour Union continues to obstruct grid recovery efforts nationwide.

“The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide. We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.” the statement read
The NLC and the TUC have been in negotiation with the federal government over a new minimum wage since the government policies announced last year by President Bola Tinubu led to an increase in the cost of goods and services. The federal government has offered to pay N60,000 minimum wage which labour has refused.