By Obas Esiedesa
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) branch of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) has decried the illegalities, imposition of the national body and the withholding of their N25 million dues for 33 months.
In a statement by the issued by the Public Relations Officer of the Branch, Comrade Amiji Gabriel in Abuja at the weekend, the President, TCN Branch of SSAEAC, Comrade Abidemi Dairo blamed one Engineer Christopher Okonkwo, a Principal Manager with the Ikeja Distribution Company Ltd who was seconded to TCN as General Manager by the Ministry of Power for the crisis in the TCN branch of the union.
Dairo alleged that the said Okonkwo who was illegally brought to TCN as a GM, contested and became the President General of SSAEAC in 2015, against the regulations of unionism.
The union said it alerted the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in September 2019 that Okonkwo is a management official at TCN and that being the President General of SSAEAC violates the Trade Union Act Cap. T14 Laws of the Federation, 2004 as amended.
Dairo said the Ministry claimed it was unaware of that and promised to take action, confirming that any management official posing as the SSAEAC Head was actually a violation.
Although no action has been taken, the TCN union called on the ministry to act faster before the crisis degenerates, saying the TCN workers are focused on improving the power sector.
Dairo also alleged that Okonkwo has failed to remit check-off dues meant for the branch.
According to him, “He (Okonkwo) has refused to pay the Check-off dues of the TCN branch of SSAEAC for 33 months, all totalling about N25 million. Okonkwo also purportedly suspended the branch from the SSAEAC National which action is being challenged at the National Industrial Court.
“He isn’t a staff of TCN, he has no appointment letter. He came from Ikeja Distribution. He was never an AGM before becoming a GM,” against civil service norms and traditions pertaining to promotion and a carrier advancement, he claimed.
Recall that in May this year officials of the SSAEAC national body led by Okonkwo and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), clashed with workers in the TCN branch after they refused to join in the picketing of the transmission company.
The had claimed then that they had good working condition under the present management of TCN.
“We were at the Ministry of Labour on the 7th of July 2019 to complain of the non-remittance of the check-off Due rebate for over 33 months, about N25m,” Dairo said.
He said the Ministry rather mandated TCN management to continue payment in full to SSAEAC National with a promise to ensure remittance to TCN Branch.
“The National has refused to pay the TCN Branch her 50 percent Check-off due rebate till date, despite recent N6.7m payment by TCN to the National with evidence presented before the Permanent Secretary in the Labour by ministry but to no avail. Our members are getting agitated but the Ministry is still ignoring us,” the union noted.
