Privatisation Of PHCN A Fraud, Electricity Workers Tell Buhari

In apparent response to the statement
made by the out-going minister of power,
Professor Chinedu Nebo, on the need for
the in-coming administration not to tamper
with the privatization of the power sector,
electricity workers in the country have
demanded a thorough review of the
privatization of Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN, alle-ging that the privatization
project was fraught with irregularities.
The workers further alleged that the
privatisation exercise had made electricity
generation and consumption in the country
ineffective.
The workers, under the aegis of National
Union of Electricity Emplo-yees, NUEE,
insisted that the payment of over N200
billion to the private sector by the
government after the privatization exercise
leaves much to be desired, and urged the
incoming administration of Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, rtd, to revisit the
exercise.
The executive members of the union, led by
the General Secretary and factional President
of Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade
Joe Ajaero, said this in Abuja, while
conducting select journalists round the site
of abandoned 60 containers of 52KVA
electricity transformers, at Kubwa, in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of the NUEE executive
members, Ajaero argued that if after many
months, privatization of electricity in the
country had failed to bring positive impact
to electricity consumers, then, there was
the need for the Buhari-led presidency to
revisit the programme.
Comrade Ajaero said: “We want to say, as a
union that the sham called privatization
should be revisited. If privatization, as we
were told, was to bring us heaven-on-earth
elderado, and it has not done that, why
should we insist on it?.
“Of course, our position as NUEE, has been
no to privatization, especially given that we
are an underdeveloped economy. It is the
function of the state to provide power.
“Even the so called privatization, you can
see that even this year alone, between
January and now, they have even given the
so called private sector over N200 billion.
So, why fund them if you say the electricity
is in the hands of the private sector? That
brings you to the point of the fraud on who
owns them.
“Why would you sell your house to
somebody and you still give him money to
maintain it? So, it’s a fraud.”
Emphasizing on the minister’s comment
that privatization of PHCN must stay, Ajaero
added: “We want Buhari to ask questions
first and foremost because it is wrong for a
an out-going minister to be setting agenda
for Buhari to reverse or not to reverse the
privatization of PHCN.
“A minister who inherited about 4000
megawatts and is today, battling with just
2000 and something megawatts, doesn’t
have the moral courage to advise incoming
government on what to do.
Ajaero stressed: “If he Buhari asks questions
for some months, he will now know the
direction to move.”
On the abandoned containers, Ajaero said
he was alerted on the abandoned
equipments by concerned citizens who got
wind of the development.
“With these transformers hidden here, you
can now understand that while they were
privatizing, certain properties were being
hidden, “he alleged.