It is uncertain how long the power outages would last.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Company said its customers in four South-south states are currently without power supply as a result of the ongoing nationwide labour strike.
“Kindly be informed that we are experiencing a total blackout due to a nationwide grid shutdown by the labour union,” the distribution company said in a statement posted on its X handle on Monday.
The states without power supply, according to PHED, include Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom States.
“The Transmission Company of Nigeria is working to recover and stabilise the grid,” PHED assured customers.
Labour Strike
The labour strike, which commences on Monday, paralysed business activities throughout the country.
Workers in the country have shut down schools, banks, hospitals and airports.
Also, courts are closed while state secretariats across the country have been locked by labour leaders who are enforcing the industrial action.
The organised labour – the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC)- resorted to strike after a series of meetings with the federal government failed to yield consensus over a new minimum wage.
The old minimum wage of N30,000 expired on 18 April after five years.
A new minimum wage was supposed to take effect from 1 May, but organised labour and the federal government have failed to agree on the amount that should be paid to workers as a new minimum wage.
The organised labour proposed N494,000 as a new minimum wage and rejected the federal government’s N60,000 offer, which resulted in the industrial action.
The National Assembly on Sunday made a last-minute intervention but failed to convince labour leaders to shelve the strike.
