Oil Workers Strike: Nationwide Darkness Imminent Following Cut In Gas Supply To Power Plants

Nigerians may soon experience nationwide blackout following the ongoing strike embarked upon by workers in the oil sector which has led to the disruption of gas supply to five power generating plants across the country.

The power generation affected by this cut off are the 1,320mega watts (mw) Egbin power plant, 750mw Olorunsogo, 868mw Geregu and the 220mw Sapele power plants as well as the 270mw AES Independent Power Plant.

The Minister of power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kande Daniel, urged workers in the petroleum resources sector to call off their industrial action, stressing that the effect of the strike is severe on the power sector.

He noted that “the action taken by members of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in the course of their ongoing strike have cut off gas supply to major power stations.”

The Minister rued the adverse effect of this development on power supply at a time government had made substantial progress in solving the gas problem, thereby, raising peak generation in recent weeks to an average of 4,500mw with a spinning reserve of about 300mw.

He decried the current setback arising from the oil and gas workers’ action, curtailing supply of gas-to-power stations, reducing power generation, and inevitably leading to a drastic reduction in power supply across the country.

Nebo, however, assured that efforts were on to ensure a speedy and amicable resolution of the matter, and appealed for the understanding of electricity consumers affected by the development. While appreciating the concerns and fears of the workers, he also urged members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN to take into consideration the enormous damaging socio-economic effect of their action on the nation, and return to work.

The statement disclosed that the Minister who “inspected the Apo substation where a weather-induced explosion occurred during the week, assessed the extent of damage, and was assured by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Engineers that efforts were on to restore supply to parts of Abuja affected by the incident, by Friday this week.”

He emphasized that the results of government’s efforts to effect a significant improvement in power supply would become more evident in the coming weeks. While dismissing the insinuation that the accident could have been an attack or sabotage, he pointed out that the cause of the fire which gutted the facility was nature induced from lightening sparks.

Workers in the oil sector embarked on strike Tuesday to protest a number of issues among which are the withdrawal of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) pensions license by the PenCom, non commencement of the refineries Turn Around Maintence (TAM) among others.