The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for the reversal of power sector privatisation due to what it called “chronic failures” by the distribution companies (Discos) to deliver quality power supply to Nigerians.
Besides, the Congress warned that Nigerian workers would resist privatisation of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) by any government, as being mooted by some groups of the political class.
Speaking at the 12th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of the NLC in Abuja on Tuesday, the President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said Nigerians have not seen any benefit since the privatisation, adding that the situation has rather gone worse with the inability of DISCOs to supply meters while exploiting consumers with estimated.
Wabba said: “Since the privatisation of electricity distribution, Nigerians are yet to see the fulfillment of promises of efficient service delivery. Instead, the electricity situation has gone worse with chronic failures by DISCOs to supply prepaid meters, exploitation of Nigerians through estimated billings and reluctance to attend to basic complaints.
“Even with N39 billion bailout funds from government, the supposed private entrepreneurs have failed to turn anything around except maybe their pockets, unfortunately, at the expense of Nigerians. This must stop.
“We call on the government to reverse the power sector privatisation because it has failed. The privatisation of public utilities has not generally proven to be the correct thing to do in most countries even developed ones; according to a study released by Public Services International.
“Why Public-Private Partnerships don’t work; the many advantages of public alternative authored by David Hall privatising public utilities has been a wreck in most countries. Example from Spain, France, India, South Korea, UK, Australia among others shows how public/state guarantees and loans to the private sector for the utility sector have resulted in failures on the delivery of services as well as repayment in most cases.”
Wabba stated that Nigerian workers are clearly opposed to the privatisation of the NNPC and warned that they would adopt all labour strategies to resist such privatization by any government; if such an attempt is made at any time.
The Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming election has said he would privatise the NNPC to make it functional and efficient if voted into power.
But the Congress president said the organised labour would not allow the sales of the NNPC under whatever guise by any government in power.
Rather, Wabba urged the Federal Government to resuscitate Nigeria’s ailing refineries in order to liberate the downstream sector.
According to him, the crisis of industrialisation and manufacturing in Nigeria is best exemplified by the chaos in the downstream petroleum industry where we have been unable to manage our vast natural carbon resources for national development and the prosperity of our people.
“Our four national refineries are almost under lock and key as we depend on the importation of refined petroleum products for our energy needs. Promises by successive governments to resuscitate our refineries have become a mirage.
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“To rub salt to injury, our public officials have now found a new hobby – taking ‘selfies’ in an ongoing private refinery project being constructed by the Dangote Group. This is truly sad for Africa’s largest producer of crude oil and the sixth largest in the world.
“We will continue to push for the resuscitation of our four refineries and for the construction of additional public refineries. This will bring to an end the fraud associated with subsidy payment.
“The only sustainable solution to our energy crises lies in prioritizing the development of the value chain in our downstream petroleum sector. This is a major step towards jump-starting our economy and unlocking trapped jobs.
“Our country would also be saving trillions of Naira we currently spend on importing refined and poorly regulated petroleum products from overseas,” he said.
On the issue of minimum wage, he reiterated the need to urgently pass the minimum wage bill by the National Assembly.
Wabba said: “For millions of Nigerian workers, an increase in the minimum wage is urgently needed in order to ensure a living wage that covers the cost of basic needs for a family.
“Workers must be able to freely bargain collectively through their unions for wages that reflect the tone value of the work they do and for decent working conditions.
“On January 29, 2019, the House of Representatives passed into law a new national minimum wage of N30,000. It is expected that upon the passage by the Senate, a conference of the two chambers of the National Assembly will harmonise the bill and send the National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Act to Mr President for signing into law.
“We appreciate and commend the House of Representative for the expedited action taken on the new national minimum wage bill.”