Nationwide Blackout as Electricity Workers Embark on Strike

Ololade Adeyanju/

The electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have said the blackout being experienced across the country is as a result of the industrial action by electricity workers.

The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had today announced the commencement of a nationwide strike.

The assistant secretary general of NUEE, Anthony Sule, had said in a statement that the union’s decision followed the federal government’s failure to dialogue with them to resolve the lingering issues in the sector.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) also issued a statement to announce that the strike had disrupted its services.

“Subsequently, the action has led to a nationwide shut down of electricity installations and has resulted in the disruption of service across our network.

“We sincerely apologise for all inconveniences to our esteemed customers. Power will be restored immediately the strike is called off,” the company said.

The Eko DisCo also informed its customers of the system collapse, via a post on Twitter.

“Please be informed that the present outage being experienced is due to a system collapse of the National grid.

“Work is on going to identify the fault and restore supply accordingly. Please bear with us,” it said.

Kaduna DisCo, through its head of corporate communication, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, also confirmed the system collapse in a statement.

“We regret to inform you that the prolonged power outage being currently experienced in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states is as a result of the collapse of the national grid earlier this afternoon.

“The grid collapse was occasioned by the nationwide industrial action by members of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees who are still in negotiation with the federal government to resolve all issues in dispute.

“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and promise to restore power supply as soon as the national grid is back in circuit,” the statement says.

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