Bimbola Oyesola and Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Organised Labour in the electricity sector yesterday hailed the sack of Mr Usman Mohammed, as Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) which expressed satisfaction over the sack described it as a move in the right direction.
Mr Mohammed who was relieved of his duties by the Minister of Power, Mr Mamman Sale, on Tuesday was replaced by Mr Sule Abdulaziz, in acting capacity as part of measures to reposition and improve performance of the nation’s power sector.
In a statement issued yesterday and signed by SSAEAC’s General Secretary, Umar Dubagari, the Union said the move by the Federal Government to liberate the hub of the nation’s power sector came as a welcome relief.
“We foresaw this when we exposed his background and character which he covered up with falsified CV that misled the government.
“We are glad that the truth has prevailed with the announcement of his removal which is a welcome relief to TCN staff and power sector operators,” the statement said.
While highlighting some alleged actions of Mr Mohammed, the Union stated that, “atrocities of this man (Mohammed) are numerous and have just been cut short ignominiously, to the relief of the sector. We shall be pressing for his investigation and prosecution”, the statement added.
The Union urged Nigerians to look forward to improved services in TCN since “workers are liberated from the stranglehold of the man aimed at personal gains.”
The embattled TCN boss had recently sacked the SSAEAC President, Dr. Chris Okonkwo, who was General Manager, Special Duties in a letter stating that his appointment with TCN expired since 2018.
Both The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and SSAEAC in separate letters protested to the Ministers of Power as well as Labour and Employment threatening to embark on an industrial action if the sack letter was not withdrawn.
The TUC President, Quadri Olaleye, in a letter to the Minister of Labour and Employment, said labour considered the act as a declaration of war and the TUC was prepared for the Managing Director.
Olaleye said the Congress received the news of purported sack of the President of SSAEAC with great shock stressing it was an exercise in futility as the Managing Director had no powers to sack the general manager.
According to Olaleye only the Minister can exercise such power in the extant laws.
The TUC President said the act was also an attempt to dare labour on what it could do in the present circumstance.
Meanwhile, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) and the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), yesterday protested the removal from office of the former Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mohammed Usman Gur by the Federal Government. This is even as the parent body of the unions celebrate the sack.
The in-house unions of TCN, which barricaded the Power House, headquarters of TCN, accused the Minister of Power, Engineer Sale Mamman of not following due process in sacking the MD. But in a statement, the General Secretary of SSAEAC, Umar Dubagari accused the former MD of abandoning TCN’s structure for cronism and nepotism and destroying unionism through sponsorship of internal crises. Other reasons he advanced include, manipulation of procurement processes with attendant financial fleecing of TCN and clearing and diversion of over 700 containers from the ports without documentation of contents.