‌…Condemns increase in tariff

The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has called on the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to, on assumption of duties, declare a state of emergency in the power sector, describing its privatisation as a fraud.

Speaking with The Nation, the President of the union, Comrade Martins Uzoegwu, said the time had come for the sector to be rejigged to enable us get steady power supply.
He claimed that the privatisation of the sector about nine years ago was conceived to defraud Nigeria.

He added that the privatisation policy was designed to fail, and that nine years after, no megawatts had been added and no power plant built by either the investors or government.

He claimed that the privatisation of the sector about nine years ago was conceived to defraud Nigeria.
He added that the privatisation policy was designed to fail, and that nine years after, no megawatts had been added and no power plant built by either the investors or government.

He said: “Before privatisation we were doing about 4,000 megawatts. Sometimes we do about 5,000 megawatts. But, do you know that after privatisation, we have not gone about 4,000 megawatts? In fact, we are below 4,000 megawatts. So, it has been a disaster. Privatisation has not added any value to our economy, instead it has compounded it.
“We want the incoming President to critically look into it. It was a scam and and he should declare a state of emergency on the sector.

“For us, if there’s any sector that is so important and yet so challenged, it is the power sector. I believe that this is a sector that needs a declaration of emergency.

” As we are taking we don’t know the companies that bought these power stations.They deceived Nigerians. The so called companies don’t know anything about the sector. The borrowed money from banks to buy those shares and now they can’t pay the banks and that is the reason the bank are running the power sector.
“We were told that the government has 40 per cent shares and that the DisCos 60 per cent. But, we discovered that DisCos are taking 100 per cent. The government does not even have a representative on the boards of the DisCos.The government also claimed to have pumped about N3trillion on the sector and nothing to show for this. For us, it a scam and we want the President-elect to critically look into this.The privatisation can still be review. Instead of privatisation, the government can commercialise.

“We also call on the President-elect to allow those who know about the sector run it.”

Uzoegwu Condemned what he described as the back door increase on the electricity tariff.
“This is totally wrong and we are not in support of this. We cannot agree to pay for what is not available. If you increase power generation, and distribution that will give you the latitude to say you are increasing tariff. There have been five increment in tariff since after privatisation. And there is no improvement.
“This is the time to speak truth to power; they need to be more transparent and open in whatever that is happening in the power sector”, he said.

-The Nation-