http://www.punchng.com/news/workers-cut-gas-supply-to-egbin-geregu-darkness-looms/The on-going strike by members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria could result in nationwide power outage as major power stations have suffered gas cut off.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, confirmed this in Abuja on Thursday while speaking on the effect of the workers’ action on gas supply to the power plants according to a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Kande Daniel.
Nebo observed that the actions taken by members of NUPENG and PENGASSAN in the course of their on-going strike have cut off gas supply to major power stations including Egbin, AES, Olorunsogo, Geregu and Sapele.
NUPENG and PENGASSAN had on Tuesday embarked on a strike action because of the cancellation of the closed pension system for the workers by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The unions also claimed that the management of the NNPC had also refused to fund contributions to the scheme, which they said remained the workers’ legacy pension plan.
Nebo called on workers to call off the industrial action.
He regretted the adverse effect of the strike on power supply at a time he claimed the government had recorded substantial progress in solving the gas problem, thereby raising peak generation in recent weeks to an average of 4,500, with a spinning reserve of about 300 MW.
According to him, reports from across the country had indicated noticeable improvement in the quantity and quality of power supply to homes and businesses.
He, therefore, decried the current setback arising from the oil and gas workers’ action, curtailing supply of gas to power stations, and reducing power generation.
This has inevitably led to a drastic reduction in power supply across the country, he added.
The minister 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, Nebo appealed to 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.
Nebo who also inspected Apo substation where a weather-induced explosion occurred during the week, assessed the extent of damage, and was assured by the Transmission Commission of Nigeria engineers that efforts were on to restore supply to parts of Abuja affected by the incident.
He further assured that results of government’s efforts to effect a significant improvement in power supply would become even more evident in the coming weeks.
The minister emphasised that the cause of fire that gutted the facility was nature-induced from lightening sparks.
He dismissed the insinuation that the accident could have been by attack or sabotage

Still makes no difference to me