Union Faults FG’s Directive On Power Supply

The Leadership of the
National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has faulted the Federal Government directive to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to stabilize power supply in the country by June 2014.
The Union said in a statement by its National Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero obtained by The Tide said that the directive is of feasible, since the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo had earlier identified shortage of gas as the major cause of the instability in the power sector.
Comrade Ajaero said “the Minister know the problem was gas, why did he handover the sector to private operators? He should have addressed the gas supply problem first. Even within six months, will the gas problem be over, especially with the political sitting of power stations in Nigeria? You site a power station of 200 or 300 kilometres away from the source of gas because you are a Minister you want a power station to be sited in your state”.
“Rather than site the power stations close to the source of gas, they sited the stations in their states and you then construct a pipeline from the gas source to where the power plant is situated”.
The Labour leader further said “every now and then, you will say the pipeline has been vandalized or sabotaged. So long as the distance between the stations and gas source are far, so long as we depend on gas, the mandate the Minister has given them will remain a mirage. It will not be actualized”.
“The same Minister had equally said before that he was afraid whether some of the investors have the capacity to revive the sector or change some of the facilities sold to them. This has raised the question whether there was due diligence or whether they knew the capacity of these investors before selling the plants to them”.
Ajaero further stressed that “nevertheless it is too late for all these. We have to live with these investors. We have applied a drug on a patient, we have to wait and watch the effect.
He appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience and see the effect of this drug on the power sector.
The Union scribe lamented the anti-labour practices meted out to the workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, stressing that any further anti Labour policy, the Union and workers are going to engage the government and the investors.
He said for firms that refuse to recognize workers’ rights the Union would tackle them.
Ajaero said the Union has given the firms time to stabilise, but not to destabilise or enslave the workers.

Philip Okparaji