Declare State Of Emergency On Power Sector — NUEE President Urges Tinubu

The National President, National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Engineer Adebiyi Adeyeye has urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on the power sector.

Adeyeye in a statement on Saturday frowned at the epileptic power supply in Nigeria, describing the situation as unpalatable and unbearable.

He asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to, as a matter of urgency, call a roundtable of all major stakeholders in the power sector to find a solution to the problem.

According to him, the Federal Government must look critically into the power sector and make substantial changes where necessary, noting that many companies are folding up due to unstable power supply.

Adeyeye held that part of what is contributing to the failing economy in the country is poor power supply and if the country must be rescued, the Federal Government must be ready to revamp the power sector.

His words, “No doubt, the Federal Government is making frantic efforts to improve the power generation in the country but they need to show some level of seriousness in making sure that Nigerians enjoy stable power supply.

“I’m aware that last month, the Federal Government issued a marching order, asking the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to withdraw licenses of non-performing electricity distribution companies, DISCOs. Both the Generating and Transmission companies must also be ready to show commitment. You can only distribute what is available.”

The NUEE boss said the government should encourage and harness the abundant renewable energy sources as against the use of fossil fuel to improve power generation and reduce the effect of climate change in Nigeria as the world is moving towards just energy transition.

“Since the privatisation of the power sector in November 2013, all of the hope and expectations that privatisation will add value to the life of the poor and bring meaningful impact and improvement to the power sector has been dashed. The myriad of problems bedevilling the sector prior to the privatisation exercise has worsened and increased in multiple folds,” he said.

“Take, for instance, the megawatt output of the Generating Companies has been dwindling. As at this morning, the total megawatt we operate on is 4,300MW with the incessant collapse of the national grids. This is quite unfortunate, with a population of over 200 million. How do we improve our economy under this kind of arrangement?

“Investors are leaving the country, moving to neighbouring countries all because we don’t have stable power supply. This is sad and shameful. Thousand of Nigerians are losing their jobs owing to the fact that many companies are on diesel to power their generators which has wrecked havoc on the finances of these companies, hence they reduce their workforce.”