Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
…Union threatens strike ‘to cripple economy
The Nigerian Power sector may soon be engulfed in a crisis as the Federal Government moved to privatise the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
TCN, which is saddled with the responsibility of bulk distribution of power supply to various distribution companies and stations in the country, may be sold out to a private sector in the coming months, The Nation learnt. Also, the leadership of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has threatened a showdown, should the government privatise the sector.
The union, during the fifth triennial delegate conference of Lagos GenCo and Transco Administrative Council at the National Control Centre (NCC) in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, at the weekend, deliberated on the government moves on privatisation of TCN. It urged its members to prepare for massive industrial action, which will be without prior notice.
Speaking at the conference, NUEE Assistant General Secretary (Lagos G&T Admin and Special Duties), Anthony Agyake warned that the Federal Government must drop plans to privatise the sector. The union leader said NUEE members would go on a strike that would cripple the economy.
According to him, having heard series of rumors that the government was planning to privatise TCN, “we have issued a joint letter to the Presidency, revealing the implications of selling the only negotiating power the government has and equally advised that such evil plan be discarded”.
Agyake added: “The union would not be comfortable seeing another destruction coming to the Power sector and keep quiet. Nigerians are still nursing the pains that emanated from the privatisation of both generation and distribution companies, still the government has not learnt its lesson.”
The union leader regretted that Nigerians have not seen the positive impact of the ones privatised about nine years ago. He stressed that if government handed the TCN to some private individuals, the country would be in trouble because it has a security implication. Agyake read one of the paragraphs of the letter addressed to the Federal Government on the lingering crisis.
He said: “The Presidency should accept that letter as notice. Any day, any time we wake up and hear that TCN is privatised, government should not expect any other notice from anywhere because we will embark on an industrial action. No 21 days’ notice; no two days’ notice. We will surely embark on industrial action.” Also, NUEE’s Vice President (West) Sadiq Adewale urged the executives and functionaries of the union to rise up to their responsibilities.
(thenationonlineng.net)
