The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has restored electricity to Kaduna, hours after Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, called off its 5-days warning strike.
TCN announced the restoration of the supply in a statement by its spokesperson, Ndidi Mbah.
“TCN has restored power supply on its 33kv feeders that KAEDCO had indicated readiness to pick supply from. The 33kv feeders include Mogadishu, Abakwa, NAF Base, Unguwan Dosa, Turunku, Arewa, Airport, Kinkinau, Narayi, and Independence feeders.
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“The Jaji and Rigasa feeders have also been energized while Olam, PAN and UNTL are about to be energized.
“The Waterworks feeder was energized but stripped on fault on the side of KAEDCO.
“TCN will continue to gradually restore supply on the other feeders as soon as KAEDCO indicates readiness to take the supply,” the statement said.
Earlier in Kaduna
Prof. Terhemba Wuam of Kaduna State University says the ongoing five-day warning strike by labour unions in Kaduna State will cost the state huge economic losses.
Wuam, a professor of Economic History, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna, added that the poor masses would be left to bear the burden.
NAN recalls that the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) on Monday, began a five-day warning strike over sack of civil servants by the state government.
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The strike, which entered day three had crippled economic activities in the state with the government and business owners counting their losses.
According to the professor, the suspension of electricity supply, closures of petrol stations, and the shutdown of economic activities will have huge economic consequences for the government and the people.
“The state government says it is right-sizing its civil service so as not to be spending a larger portion of its money on civil servants.
“Labour, on the other hand, is saying, “do not sack our members in the name of right-sizing”.
“While both are right in their arguments, there is something both parties are missing in this unending debate – the strategic role of recurrent expenditure in the development of the state.”
He said the labour unions failed to put up an argument that when the government pays salaries,” it is not only the civil servants that consumes what the state gets from the federation account.”
Wuam explained that when the government pays salaries, it was the money the workers use in training millions of children in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, critical in human capital development.
“The labour union should tell the government that it is the money they earn as salaries that service half of the state in terms of ensuring that education, health, and other government services are delivered.
“Both labour unions and the government are missing this point,” he said.
The lecturer further pointed out the overwhelming emphasis on the importance of capital projects, stressing, however, that recurrent expenditure could even be more important.
He noted that although capital projects might provide the buildings, roads, and other infrastructure, at the level of the country’s growth and development, the multiplier effect might be limited.
“For example, when you pay a Chinese company N10 billion for capital projects executed, that money goes to China.
“But if you pay Kaduna state civil servants that N10 billion, they train your citizens, provide health services to the citizens, collect taxes, and the money is retained within the economy.
“The government has its valid point, but the labour unions have to make the government understand, through dialogue, that what they are fighting for will contribute to the state’s development agenda, ” he said.
Wuam advised the state government and the labour unions to consider going to the negotiating table as fast as possible as a better option in the interest of both parties and residents of the state.
