Can any honest person oppose the capture of biometric data in our civil service? Can any patriotic Nigerian constitute a stumbling block to the unbundling of the bastions of inefficiently run pivotal institutions that have constituted an obstacle to rapid economic development in spite of Nigeria’s abundant natural resources?

Is it still fashionable for labour or any segment of society to remain blindly trapped by the old-fashioned labour practices that arrested development in Soviet-era Eastern Europe? Does it not amount to bare-faced sabotage to scuttle the sustained improvement in power supply, a development that is already receiving the applause of Nigerians?

These questions and more are bound to resonate in public discourse as the nation is subjected to one of the most ill-informed and badly-timed strikes in its history. As we are all well aware, the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had ordered workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to embark on strike since Monday ostensibly to protest the presence of soldiers guarding power installations in the country. While the stated reason for the action is that the presence of soldiers constitutes a threat to workers’ safety, power sector insiders insist that the real motive of the strikers is to prevent shortlisted companies, among those that have expressed interest in the unbundled companies, from carrying out the due diligence precedent to making an offer. If the later is the case that will amount to being criminal in the extreme.

But let us begin with the biometric data saga. One wonders what disability PHCN workers will suffer by having their biometric data obtained. Is there a health hazard, a social stigma or any economic drawback inherent in such a harmless exercise? Could it be that somebody, somewhere, is afraid that accurate demographic information could checkmate the padding of staff lists and stop benefits to a cabal that could include beneficiaries of workers check-off dues? If anything, workers stand to benefit from proper biometric information because it ensures transparency, accountability and proper planning.

If the biometric data saga is laughable, the objection to power installations being guarded by soldiers is patently absurd, irritating and provocative. What, with the obvious security threat posed by terror groups of all hues? While PHCN staff union is entitled to being hypersensitive to the return of jackboot patrimony especially in a democracy, we must be vigilant and guard against any subterfuge aimed at hoodwinking us into accepting the elevation of private interests to public goals. I stand to be contradicted but considered against the facts the PHCN workers union cannot be sincere. For far too long, soldiers have been guarding construction workers in various parts of Nigeria either from errant natives or dare-devil militants. If no labour union has raised eye-brows against this practice, why is the power sector union kicking against the same principle in the case of a more strategic national asset such as PHNC installations?

One thing stands out clear: the PHCN staff union have shown an unusual interest in the affairs of the power sector since the Goodluck Jonathan presidency and the emergence of Professor Barth Nnaji as the arrowhead of the administration’s power sector reform agenda. But such behaviour is as baffling as it is inexcusable. For, beyond Nnaji’s sterling antecedents as a scholar and patriot, he stands out for his passion for the job, loyalty to Jonathan’s agenda and doggedness in trying to dismantle the power sector cabal that has defied previous administrations and frustrated the nation’s developmental aspirations.

To buttress this argument, one only needs to scan through the progress made in the power sector since May 2010 when President Jonathan co-opted Professor Nnaji into the Danjuma-led Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) with specific responsibility for the power sector. A good starting point will be in the area of technical capacity where, under Jonathan, power generation rose from 2400 megawatts to 3, 800 megawatts within one year. But as we will all remember, the system collapsed due to the inability of the existing transmission infrastructure to carry the load, thereby exposing a major defect in power sector planning. Truth is, over the years, previous administrations focused on power generation without a corresponding investment in transmission and distribution. It is to the credit of the Jonathan administration that that deficit has been addressed. It is also not surprising that many consumers have started dreaming of reliable power supply.

But it is in the area of staff welfare that the Jonathan Administration deserves even greater commendation. And to wit, the PHCN workers don’t really dispute the claims.

Emma Agu is publisher of Zest titles and a commentator on national issues.

To the President’s credit N57 Billion Naira was released last year to settle the monetization benefits of PHCN staff. For a group of workers who had to wait for seven years before accessing their due, it is contradictory that instead of showing gratitude, they have decided to betray the gesture of the President. As if that was not enough, based again on Nnaji’s recommendation, President Jonathan went on to make provision of N142 Billion Naira in the budget to enable PHCN staff either acquire shares from the companies to be unbundled or, in the alternative, easily access their retirement benefits. But the icing on the cake of PHCN workers remains the salary raise that has jacked the organizations monthly wage bill from seven billion naira to N11 Billion Naira.

Against the background of the foregoing, it stands to reason that the current crisis could only have been ignited by a desire to derail the power sector reforms. Three reasons have been adduced for this. Third, and perhaps more sinister is the speculation that the internecine arm-twisting by the Ajaero-led union is a dress rehearsal of the strategy for the 2015 general elections. Should that be true, then we must ponder the sinister make-up of those who want to plunge the nation into a power gridlock just to achieve very narrow political goals. Haba!

Emma Agu is publisher of Zest titles and a commentator on national issues.