The Nigeria Labour Congress has kicked against the proposed plans by the Federal Government to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
In a communiqué signed by the President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, said that the proposed privatisation plan of TCN would portend great danger to the power sector and hold great fear and trepidation for major stakeholders within the sector.
Ajaero said,
“The intended power sector policies would create the same mistakes past administrations made and it would create deeper consequences if power sector policies were not reversed by the Federal Government.
“It imperils the ability of the state to control, always regulate and guarantee the safety of the nation’s grid system.”
It was reported on Tuesday that the Federal Government through the Bureau of Public Enterprises announced plans to sell off 40 per cent shares of the government in electricity distribution companies on the capital market in 2024.
Similarly, the government also noted that it was unbundling the TCN in line with the Electricity Act.
According to the NLC president, these same stories that Nigerians have heard over the years have largely yielded no significant results except the increased suffering that the exercise caused for Nigerian people and the economy.
He further explained that the motive behind the plans for the proposed restructuring was to prepare the TCN for eventual takeover by the cronies and lackeys of the ruling elite.
“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 privatisation,” he stated.
Ajaero stated that NLC 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 agreed had failed to attain any of its major objectives.
He asserted that the disaster that would befall the nation’s power sector would be multidimensional.
“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. Privatising 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.
“We protested against a nation that was hell-bent on committing suicide in the power sector 10 years ago, alongside the consequences that privatisation exercise was going to be for the power sector and for Nigerians, but it was not heeded,” he noted.
According to Ajaero, Nigerians have witnessed a 500 per cent 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,” he claimed.
According to the NLC President, the power sector has been handed over to banks due to proxy
“The government’s plans, especially given Nigeria’s current status as a power poverty leader, will worsen the nation’s power sector and have significant negative effects on the overall economy and socio-economic condition,” he explained.
