Power Sector Privatisation Has Failed-NLC

The Nigerian Labour Congress has said that Nigerians are yet to enjoy the benefits of the privatisation of the power sector over five years after the assets were taken over by private firms.

It claimed that despite the intervention of the Federal Government through funding and other policy measures, the sector is still witnessing huge underperformance in terms of electricity supply.

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The Deputy President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, made these claims on Tuesday during a discussion on what the players in the power sector has delivered so far on Channels TV.

President Muhammadu Buhari had recently approved the stoppage of subsidy for the privatised electricity sector which cost the country about N1.7trn annually.

Consequently the government approved a hike in electricity tariff by over a 100 per cent to allow the companies grow their funding capacity and improve power generation.

Ajaero who is also the Secretary General of the National Union of Electricity Employees said, “The privatization you are seeing is fraud, very fraudulent. It is an exercise that will not produce electricity and tariff has been going up. This is the fifth tariff increase yet power has not improved and people are still advocating for the process to continue that way.

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“It is painful to Nigerians that there is no power generated. Unless we have to rethink this process and think of a way forward, privatisation is a total failure,” said

He added, “About 25 companies were earlier licensed to participate in the power sector and none of them could participate. If they had come side by side to compete with NEPA that was generating 4,000mw, assuming they come out with 2,000mw to 3,000mw, the generation will go up.

“They took that same 4,000mwt they say is inefficient from NEPA and you split it into 18, shared it among their friends. What we still have is 4,000mw. How has that increased the output?”

Nigeria had in 2013 implemented the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005, which called for unbundling the national power utility company, Power Holding Company of Nigeria into 18 successor companies. The companies comprised six Generation Companies and 12 Distribution Companies.

Meanwhile Arthur Usiagwu, a power sector expert and the Chief Executive of CCS Technology Ltd, argued that while the privatisation idea is commendable, the government seems to be holding back what it had privatised.

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He said, “You cannot privatise and you are still playing in the subsector. If you privatise, you must get off the scene.

“Government should stop financing the electricity sub-sector, sell the DisCos. The Transmission Company of Nigeria, I don’t see any reason why the government is keeping it. Then the GenCos that are there, the government has sold some part, sold the remaining. “

Usiagwu said government roles should be regulatory, adding “not government putting scarce resources into funding electricity projects.”

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