Nearly 20 million residents of Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states in Nigeria have been without electricity for the past four days.
This is due to the shutdown of Kaduna Electric, the power distribution company serving these states, by union members who have taken an unyielding stance.
Their action is crippling businesses and affecting healthcare delivery in some areas.
The workers union shut down the operations of the company on Monday, 3rd February 2025, and they have since refused to restore power supply to the four states.
A statement issued by Abdulazeez Abdullahi, Head, Corporate Communications at Kaduna Electric, explained that several attempts by stakeholders to get the workers to rescind their action have been futile.
He mentioned that there was a mediation session, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sani Katu, and attended by the Kaduna State Attorney General, Sule Shu’aibu SAN, to resolve the impasse.
Surprisingly, he said the union representatives introduced new and unreasonable demands as conditions for restoring power. He said this resulted in a deadlock.
“This development contradicted their earlier assurance to the Kaduna State Government that power would be restored as negotiations progressed,” he pointed out.
Although the issue is not fully resolved, Abdulazeez Abdullahi expressed the gratitude of the board and management of Kaduna Electric for the intervention of Her Excellency, and other stakeholders in this regard.
“The company remains committed to resolving the issue through dialogue, while also exploring measures to alleviate the suffering of millions of our customers and ensuring a long-term sustainability of our operations,” he concluded.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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