By Ken Afor
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has denied claims made by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) that some union members assaulted workers of the company.
The NLC, while responding to the claims, described them as “mere speculations” and stated that violence is not a part of their operations.
It would be recalled that in a statement, Ndidi Mbah, General Manager of Public Affairs at the Transmission Company, alleged that all operators were forcibly removed from the control room at the Benin Transmission station at around 1:15 am.
According to the statement, staff members, who resisted, were beaten, resulting in injuries. This disruption led to the complete shutdown of the Benin Area Control Centre.
Mbah said: “At about 1:15 am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator, under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN, reported that all operators were driven away from the control room.
“And staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room; and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Centre was brought to zero.”
Meanwhile, responding to the claims, the NLC Head of Information, Mr. Benson Upah, said that violence has never been a model of operation for organised labour.
Upah said: “Certainly, we are not violent people and we couldn’t have attacked those staff. Those people, who attacked them, wouldn’t have been our members. Maybe some other people.
“It is an unfair and unfounded allegation against organised labour. We do not visit violence on people or property; it is not in our character. Anytime we are in protest, it has always been peaceful and we tend to keep it so.
“However, if somebody attacks us, the right to self-defense is available and permissible under Nigerian law, and all these are speculations because we have not received any report or complaint from TCN.”
The New Diplomat reports that the national grid was shut down at about 2:19am on Monday, June 3.
The shutdown, which started from the Benin transmission station to other substations in Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba, and Osogbo, was in compliance with the strike called by the organised labour.
