By Martin Odiete………..The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress has declared that the privatization of the power sector by the Federal Government of Nigeria has not yielded the desired divided and therefore call for the immediate revocation of the contract.
This was part of the resolutions reached by the Nigeria Labour Congress virtual meeting held on the 22nd of April 2021. They noted that the service from the private owners have recorded worse performance than when it was publicly managed.
Labour statement says, “The NEC considered a Report of the World Bank on the so-called subsidies by government on the privatized power sector as an acute aberration that is totally untoward, and completely unacceptable to Nigerians. The NEC also considered that the services from the new private owners of the power sector have recorded worse performance than when the power sector was publicly managed. The NEC noted that the quality of services and cost efficiency for electricity consumers in Nigeria have actually deteriorated since the privatization of the power sector. The NEC reasoned that the raison d’etre for the privatization of the power sector which is to improve electricity services to consumers, shed the burden of funding the power sector from government and increase revenue accruing to government have all been defeated.
Consequent upon that Labour resolution on the issue is as follow;
“The NEC resolved to demand that government in line with the agreement signed with Organized Labour on September 28, 2020 should invoke the clause in the power sector privatization that provides for a 5-year review of the sector privatization programme to reverse the power sector privatization programme and return the sold assets to the Nigerian people. This demand is consequent on the incontrovertible evidence that the current power sector privatization has failed to achieve any of its set objectives which includes improving the quality and quantity of electricity supply to Nigerians, shedding of power sector funding from the government and increasing revenue from power sector investment to the coffers of government.
“The NEC also called on government to be clear and straight on its engagement with Organized Labour on the management of electricity tariff. The NEC said that it would not allow government to hide under the guise of “sine die” engagement with Organized Labour to afflict Nigerians with further increases in electricity tariff.
“Furthermore, the NEC-in-Session strongly objected to the World Bank’s claim that energy tariffs are subsidized by about 70%. The NEC recalled that the privatization programme for Nigeria’s power sector was at the bidding of the World Bank and other Bretton Woods Institutions. The NEC called on the World Bank to be courageous enough to admit that its “one size fits all” prescriptions have failed again,” the statement concluded.
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