Bimbola Oyesola
Workers in the electricity sector have warned that, if urgent steps are not taken to address challenges, the power sector would completely collapse in the next three years.
Workers, under the umbrella of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), at the union’s sixth Quadrennial/11th National Delegates’ Conference in Lagos last week, noted that, if there is no action to put the sector in the proper stead, it would collapse in the next three years.
General secretary of NUEE, Joe Ajaero, at the conference, said there was the need for all stakeholders to chart the way forward for the industry in Nigeria.
He specifically charged the Senior Staff association, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) to join hands with NUEE to review and salvage the sector.
He said, “There is need for us to sit down to discuss the way forward. All stakeholders should join hands to rescue the sector from collapse. Nobody is happy with what is happening in the sector. Nigerians are not happy. The level at which our members are being assaulted, harassed and beaten up is increasing. Nigerians are venting their frustration on the power situation on our members.
“It is not in our purview to provide meters. I am happy to say that there are some benefits from the action we took last time.”
He reiterated the call for SSAEAC to work with NUEE in the interest of workers eking their living in the sector.
He added, “We cannot continue to lament. Let the ministers of power and others tell Nigerians the situation in the power sector. Let them tell us that, in the next six months, this is what we should expect and, in the next one year, this is what will happen.
“Let them tell us the short, medium and long-term plans for the power sector and how they want to achieve them. If they do not have (plans), we think there is need to declare an emergency in the power sector.”
Ajaero maintained that the union may resume the recently suspended nationwide strike, if the government failed to implement the agreement reached with them.
Ajaero declared that the agreement, which necessitated the suspension of the strike, should be implemented to avert a resumption of industrial action.
The strike had on December 11, 2019, left the entire nation in a blackout, as offices of various electricity distribution companies were locked up and businesses in the power sector prevented from operating.
The strike was suspended the following day, December 12, after representatives of the Federal Government and others signed an agreement to look into the workers’ demands.
The union, among others, had accused the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) of failure to fully pay the over 2,000 disengaged workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) since 2013.
The general secretary said the union was waiting for the implementation of the demands as captured in the agreement, or the workers would return to the trenches.
Meanwhile, SSAEAC has agreed there is the need for urgent intervention in the power sector to save it from collapse.
The SSAEAC president, Chris Okonkwo, said the Federal Government should declare an emergency in the power sector, as Nigerians were totally dissatisfied with the situation in the sector.
He stated that it was obvious to everyone that those in charge of the sector have no blueprint to move it forward.
Okonkwo also expressed the belief that there was the need for some interventions in the power sector, as it has failed to meet the expectations of millions of Nigerians.
The Federal Government, he said, must be bold enough to review the privatisation of the power sector, as some of the private companies that came into the sector through the exercise have failed to live up to expectations, hence the sector was still bedevilled by daunting challenges.
The president of NUEE, Martin Uzoegbu, also stated that power investors’ indebtedness to banks was making it impossible for fresh development to come into the sector.
According to him, “The privatisation has not worked out. Some of the companies (DisCos) are indebted to banks, making it difficult for them to make fresh investments in developing the infrastructure.
“If you go down memory lane, you will recall some of the obnoxious policies they invented to pursue their self-serving agenda.
“They embarked upon revenue cycle management in the distribution zones, and the prepaid metering because of the attendant benefits. The economic hawks scramble over the various zones and portioned it to themselves with no mutual gain to the industry.”
