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Bimbola Oyesola
Workers in the electricity sector of the Nigerian economy have insisted that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration must review the privatisation of the power sector to prevent the imminent collapse of the socio-economic system of the country.
Various stakeholders, speaking at the fourth triennial delegates’ conference of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), which held in Enugu at the weekend, with the theme “Privatisation and Unionism: Nigeria’s Power Sector Experience,” were unanimous in their call for a review, stressing that it was long overdue.
President of SSAEAC, Comrade Chris Okonkwo, who was re-elected president to lead the union for another three years, wondered why government has remained indifferent on the issue despite the fact that the privatisation process is now in its sixth year.
“Everyone has seen that the privatisation of the sector was an error and there is a clause that allows review after five years. Since last year, we have been charging the government to use the clause and correct the anomaly in the process, but nothing is being done,” he said.
He noted that incompetence on the part of the distribution companies has been the bane of the process, stating that total revolution of the sector was the only solution.
The SSAEAC president lamented that the experience of the workers and the unions with the private employers in the sector had been challenging, despite the union’s system of engagement.
“This challenge informed our choice of theme to dissect the concerns and factors still impacting negatively on the power sector and the goal of government to make the power problems a thing of the past,” he said.
Commending employers, such as Abuja, Ibadan, Eko, Jos and Kaduna distribution companies, and the TCN who have signed agreements with the union, he warned others like Ikeja, Benin, Kano, Yola, Enugu and Mainstream Energy that they may soon be picketed by the union.
“It is important to note that it is in the interest of the companies and staff, through the unions, to have this contract documents because it offers protection to both sides,” he said.
Also speaking on the theme, general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Joe Ajaero, said privatisation was evil, noting that it has made it difficult for unions to operate and discharge their core responsibilities.
He said employers were hiding under this guise to sack and maltreat workers without due process and recourse to labour laws, warning that such employers would answer for their deeds.
Ajaero said, “Privatisation is taking what belongs to everybody and giving it to an individual, or their own people, that is my definition of privatisation. They say it will bring foreign investments, none has come.
“There’s urgent need for us to look at it critically. PDP privatised, APC says it does not have it as agenda, then why can’t they review it, if there is no collaboration between them?”
In the same vein, president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, lambasted Nigeria’s model of privatisation, stating that it has done more harm than good.
He called on government to review the privatisation model, insisting that it must be done away with, if efficiency is the target.
Kaigama said, “There is a dire need to revisit or reverse privatisation in the sectors that they have failed. The processes were wrong. The intention may be right, but wrongly executed or probably by vested interests.”
The guest speaker, Dr. Godknows Igali, however, tasked the workers to take the lead and play an active role in restoring the power sector, which he said is the driver of the nation’s economy.
