Edo and NLC end dispute as labour moves to restore state's electricity

Edo State and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have ended their long-running dispute over the union's caretaker committee in the state, clearing the way for electricity to return after days of total darkness.

The truce was reached at a closed-door meeting in Abuja on Friday, 23 October 2026, convened by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, according to a statement from the governor's Chief Press Secretary, Patrick Ebojele.

Edo has been without power since Monday. The blackout grew out of two separate disputes: a pay and welfare disagreement between BEDC Electricity Plc and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), and a leadership fight between the state government and the Edo NLC, led by Joseph Igbafe, over recognition of its caretaker committee.

What was agreed

Governor Monday Okpebholo said the state would now recognise the caretaker committee and work with labour on plans for a substantive election.

"There is no issue actually, and we have resolved the issues that border the NLC caretaker committee in Edo,"

the governor told journalists after the meeting.

NLC President Comrade Joe Ajaero confirmed the agreement and thanked the governor, Akume, Labour Minister Dr Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi and former Edo governor Senator Adams Oshiomhole for their roles. Ajaero said power would be restored in Edo.

Dingyadi said the NLC would hold a substantive election in the state within three to six months, and that electricity would return immediately.

NLC Acting General Secretary Benson Upah said the union's secretariat in Edo, which had been locked amid the dispute, would reopen at once. He said the governor also agreed that check-off dues would be remitted through the proper channels and that normal relations between the state and labour would resume.

Oshiomhole, himself a former NLC president, described the row as a communication gap that had now been closed, and said there was no longer any reason to continue the action.

Why it matters

Days without power hit homes, small businesses and hospitals in Edo, and the standoff had also frozen the union's presence in the state. Upah said the NLC had earlier taken its complaint against the state government to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), where Nigeria was indicted.

What happens next will depend on delivery: the reopening of the secretariat, the remittance of dues, the timetable for the substantive election and, most urgently for residents, the return of electricity.