The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has threatened a nationwide industrial showdown over the persistent collapse of Nigeria’s electricity grid, declaring that a decade of power sector privatisation has delivered “darkness, exploitation and economic pain” to citizens.
Speaking at the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, Annual Conference of Women and
Youth in Abuja, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, issued what he described as a “final warning” to authorities and power sector operators, insisting that organised labour would resist any further tariff increases or policies that deepen hardship without improving supply.He lamented that over 10 years after the unbundling and sale of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, successor companies, electricity generation remains stagnant at between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts — virtually the same level recorded before privatisation, despite Nigeria’s growing population and industrial demands.
While saying this remains shameful and demonstrates how stagnated Nigeria has become, and issuing a scorching indictment of the current power sector regime, Ajaero called for an immediate and comprehensive review of the entire sector.
According to him: “We once again sound the alarm on the deplorable state of the nation’s electricity sector. We declare that the failed privatisation experiment has plunged Nigerian workers, women, youth, and industries into deeper energy poverty as the national grid continues to collapse while DISCOs persistently reject loads from the Transmission Company, TCN.
“Instead of progress, we witness regression. Instead of light, we have darkness. The national grid collapses with the frequency of a faulty generator, sometimes plunging the entire nation into blackout. This is not the ‘turnaround’ we were promised; this is a well-orchestrated robbery of the Nigerian people.
“NLC once again maintains that the power sector privatisation was a grand deception. The exercise was a fraudulent transfer of public wealth into the hands of a few speculators who lack both the technical expertise and the financial backbone to manage the nation’s electricity assets.
“The so-called investors did not buy these companies with their own money. No foreign exchange was brought in, though the companies were touted to have come from outside our shores. They borrowed heavily from Nigerian banks, draining domestic credit and contributing to the depreciation of our naira. They acquired the DISCOs and GENCOs on a shoestring budget and now expect Nigerian workers to pay for their loans through outrageous electricity tariffs.”
Ajaero condemned the band classification (A, B, C) as a capitalist tool designed to further impoverish the masses.
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