The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has threatened to embark on an indefinite strike over the sacking of 900 employees of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, KADECO.
This comes as the National Electricity Employees, NUEE, issued a February 10 deadline to KADECO to recall all the sacked workers, among others, threatening to escalate the industrial crisis to a national scale.
The KADECO had on Monday sacked no fewer than 900 employees, promising to pay their benefits at no specified date.
NUEE, in a statement by its Acting General Secretary, Dominic Igwebike, stated, “We wish to draw the attention of the company’s management to the fact that embarking on such a massive sack of their staff, who are our members, without recourse to the provision of the company’s conditions of service is an insult to the union and a fragrant violation and disregard of Section 20 of the Nigeria Labour Act, which ‘requires an employer to notify the trade union or workers’ representative of the reasons for and the extent of the redundancy before terminating the employment of its staff on account of redundancy.
“Also, it is a total violation of ILO Convention No. 988, which clearly stipulates the ‘Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.”
Highlighting the alleged sins of KADECO, before the present industrial crisis, NUEE said, “Your unfair labour practices include no provision of medical services to the workers, disregard of non-implementation of all signed Heads of Agreement with Management, and non-remittance of five years of pension deductions to employees’ retirement savings accounts.
“We demand the KADECO management withdraw these sack letters, rescind its earlier decision, and return to status quo ante and be ready to address all outstanding labour issues in the company with the union through dialogue and the spirit of collective bargaining to avert the looming danger management action has posed to the sector.
“Consequently, if by Monday, February 10, 2025, these sacked workers are not recalled and other pending labour issues are not resolved, we shall have no choice but to escalate our protest against this gross injustice to all the electricity companies across the country.
“Nigerians and the general public are therefore put on notice of the impending crisis, and the management of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company should be held responsible for anything that will happen to the already fragile state of the electricity sector in the country.”
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
