From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has rejected the Federal Government’s plan to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), saying it portends great danger to the power sector.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero stated this in a statement on Wednesday.
Ajaero said the initiative holds great fear and trepidation for major stakeholders within the Power sector and would jeopardize the ability of the state to control, regulate and guarantee the safety of the nation’s grid system at all times.
He warned that the disaster that will befall the nation’s power sector would be multidimensional if the plan is implemented, adding that the quest to ultimately hand over the Transmission infrastructure would expose the nation to blackmails and weaken the ability of the sector to transmit and distribute power around the country.
“We want to quickly say that the idea behind the so-called plans to restructure is the same big grammar that was spoken before and during the failed privatisation exercise of the sector. They are the same stories that Nigerians have heard over the years which have largely yielded no significant results except the increased suffering that the exercise became for Nigerian people and the economy.
“It is clear that the main motive behind the plans for the proposed restructuring is none other than to prepare the TCN for eventual take over by the cronies and lackeys of the ruling elite. When words like Unbundling are bandied about in Nigeria, the masses and workers become frightened because of the level of misery such words have foisted on the people. Unbundling heralded the death of the Downstream sector of the nation’s Petroleum sector, it sounded the death knell on the Power sector and raising its ugly specter once again at this time when the people are facing serious socio economic challenges may compound the woes of the people.
“NLC believes that the President is making the same mistake previous administrations have made with the policy direction his Minister of power is trying to follow in seeking to unbundle TCN for privatization. We had thought that the President would have convened a genuine national stakeholders’ forum to critically review the Privatisation exercise in the sector which the government itself agrees has failed to attain any of its major objectives rather than seeking to embark on another exercise that would bring more crisis to the Power sector.”
“Privatizing it will create the same crisis prevailing within the DISCOs and GENCOs and will impact the quality-of-service deliverance by the Power sector to Nigerians.
“It has to be remembered that we protested against a nation that was hell bent on committing suicide in the power sector 10 years ago. We talked about the consequences that Privatisation exercise was going to be for the Power sector and for Nigerians but it was not heeded.
“Today, Nigerians have witnessed a 500 percent tariff increase, yet there is no improvement in services to Nigerians. The Power sector remains stagnant as no significant investment was made by those who bought the GENCOs and DISCOs through proxies. What we are reaping today are the unfortunate outcomes of the errors of yesterday and it is obvious that we are bent on going the same route
“The consequences of what the government wants to do especially to at a time when Nigeria is today leading other countries as headquarters of nations suffering from Power poverty will worsen the predicament of the nation’s Power sector”