Nine years after the privatisation of the country’s power sector, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has disclosed that the process has not met the expectations of Nigerians.
Recall that the power sector was privatised in November 2013, with six power generation plants and 11 electricity distribution companies handed over to the private sector. However, the Federal Government retained control of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Addressing a press conference in Jos, the Plateau state capital, the North-East Zonal Senior Organising Secretary of the union, Mr. Sikamta Mshelinga, lamented that the privatisation of the critical sector had not added value to the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
Mshelinga, who insisted that it had not made meaningful impact in power supply in the country, said: “It is an undeniable fact that the power sector privatisation has not added value to the lives of the ordinary Nigerians.
“The entire exercise did not bring any meaningful impact or improvement on the sector; rather, it has brought so many setbacks to the nation. The infrastructural development by the new business owners in the sector has almost gone comatose while the socio-economic status of the average worker in the sector has continued to decline.
“Nigerians were told that the new investors had the financial and technical muscles to improve power generation and distribution, but I believe that has not been achieved,” he said.
The official further decried the lack of power supply in the nation amid rising electricity tariff without making prepaid meters available to customers.
Mshelinga decried the non-payment of entitlements of discharged workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), adding that many of them had died due to untold hardship, while those alive are going through excruciating pains.
He also lamented the poor remuneration, lack of welfare packages, and poor condition of service, among other ill treatments for electricity workers in the country and called on the Generation Companies (GenCos) to sign the condition for the employees.
The official also called on the Federal Government to look into the entire power sector privatisation process with a view to making it better.
