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The National Union of Electricity Employees on Thursday in Abuja announced the suspension of the nationwide strike embarked upon by electricity workers following a truce reached with the Federal Government.

The suspension of the strike came just as the Federal Government commenced the payment of the 20,000 electricity workers the arrears of their monetisation allowances totalling N57bn.

The Zonal Organising Secretary, NUEE, Mr. Temple Owirima, announced the decision to call off the strike, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting between the union and the Federal Government.

The strike, which started on Wednesday, plunged the entire nation into darkness.

Owirima said later that the conditions under which the strike was called off included the immediate payment of salary arrears to the workers, starting from August 26.

He said that disbursement of funds should be concluded within one week, while the outstanding 137 per cent pay rise agreed in May would be discussed within the stipulated time.

The organising secretary also said that the Federal Government had promised to review and address the issue of the regularisation of appointments of more than 10,000 casual workers of PHCN.

The payment of the monetisation arrears marks the beginning of the implementation of the agreement reached at the meeting, which ended at 2am on Thursday.

In Enugu State, the striking workers returned to work on Thursday in compliance with a directive from the NUEE.

The Enugu Branch Chairman of the NUEE, Mr. Ikem Ogbozo, said that he had received a directive to call off the strike.

Meanwhile, business activities were paralysed in Port Harcourt on Thursday following the power outage caused by the nationwide strike.

One of our correspondents observed that the blackout had left artisans in the Rivers State capital un-occupied, while corporate organisations were powering their operations with power generators.

A resident of Port Harcourt, Dr. Ndubusi Arua, said, “President Goodluck Jonathan should go ahead with the deregulation and bundling of this sector in order for us to feel the impact of having constant power supply in this country. Everyday I spend up to N2,800 on diesel to run my business.’’

Meanwhile, the General Manager, Public Affairs, PHCN, Mrs. Effuru Igbo, while announcing that the strike had been called off, expressed regret over the inconviences the blackout caused Nigerians. She said power supply would be restored before the end of Thursday.

She said that workers had resumed work, while the transmission stations were all back to work.

In another development, a non-governmental organisation, Probity and Accountability Watch, has called on the Presidential Task Force on Power to ensure judicious use of the N200bn released by the Federal Government a few days ago.

The National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Femi Oguntayo, in a statement on Wednesday, explained that the N200bn fund meant for the unbundling of PHCN should not go down the drain.

The task force, headed by Prof. Bath Nnaji, was mandated to settle PHCN workers that would be affected by the privatisation of the utility company.

According to the statement, “Privatisation of PHCN is one of the keys to efficient service delivery by the agency. When PHCN is privatised, the citizenry will enjoy better services because there would be competition among power providers.

“PHCN workers affected by the privatisation should not feel bad because they will still be relevant when private power companies begin to invest in the country. Privatisation will create more employment just as telecoms created.”

It added, “The number of people employed by telecommunications companies operating in Nigeria today is greater than those employed by NITEL in those days. The monopoly enjoyed by NITEL then was stifling business growth.

“Everyone can now see the difference with the advent to private telecommunications. The masses are the ultimate beneficiaries when a country privatises.”
source:www.punchng.com