Power Sector: Fashola Explains How FG Lost N7.7b To Workers’ Strike In Two Years

[caption id="attachment_7110" align="alignnone" width="680"]Babatunde Raji Fashola, minister of Power, Works and Housing[/caption]

The Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has explained how the Federal Government lost N7.7 billion from 2014 to 2016 due to strikes by electricity workers.

His explanation was contained in a statement he personally signed on Thursday and made available to the newsmen in Abuja.

Giving a breakdown of how the said amount was lost, Fashola said that the Federal Government, from April 28 to May 2014, lost N576 million due the strike by Benin Electricity Distribution Company staff union.

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He said that on June 11, 2014, the government lost N66 million due the Nigeria Labour Congress strike that resulted to the sealing of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company office over the sack of 134 workers inherited from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

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Explaining further, the minister said that the government also lost N144 million due to strike by NLC from February 8 to 10, 2015 in Benin DISCO, adding that from May 7 to 9, 2015, the strike by Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees led to government losing N65 million.

He further listed other losses incurred by the government due to incessant strikes in the energy sector, to include the strike by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria on May 22, 2015, which cost the government N2 billion.

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Fashola, therefore, urged the workers to unite with their employers and see themselves as part of the government.

He also said that government could not improve the welfare of its workers if it continued to lose much of its revenues to strikes.

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