By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
A WEEK ago, workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, under the umbrella of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, gathered in the ancient city of Benin, Edo state for their 4th Quadrennial/ 9th National Delegates Conference, to elect new leaders to run their affairs for the next four years.

It attracted government officials, labour leaders from within and outside the country among others.

Addressing the audience at the opening ceremony, President of NUEE, Comrade Mansur Musa, said the struggle to see that the power sector became vibrant was borne out of patriotism and the love the workers and the union had for the country.

According to him, “We desire to see a genuine effort at building power infrastructure that can power the industrial base of this nation, which will in turn help to bring millions of jobs to both informal and formal sectors of our economy.

Fortunately, what we are seeing is a criminal manipulation of the processes by former PHCN contractors who by design now occupy public offices in the Presidency and the ministries and with huge conflict of interest in the sector.

Every day they talk to us about international best practice. Is it an international best practice to appoint persons with entrenched and vested interest into public office? In whose favour will you resolve their huge conflict of interest?

Workers of PHCN during a prayer session at the corporate HQ of the company in Abuja. Inset, Comrade Musur Musa, President of NUEE.

Definitely not in the nation’ favour. The 2005 Power Sector Reform Act and the Power Road Map were designed and operated by these selfish individuals to strip Nigeria of its vital PHCN assets in the name of reform and we refuse to agree with their reforms because ab- initio, it was meant to serve few cartel who expanded $23 billion fund unde President Olusegun Obasanjo and the present regime with no megawatt to show for it.”

“We strongly call for the repeal of the 2005 Power Sector Reform Act and a ban on the so- called Power Road Map because it is a tunnel that will lead the nation into electric and financial darkness. If we must develop the power sector, the National Assembly must establish an Electric Power Trust Fund, EPTF, to be managed by selfless men and women of integrity and made to work with PHCN on their power development plan of 1995-2005 which was aborted by successive regimes.

That plan was to build power stations and a coal power station in Enugu (500 mw), Mambila (4000mw), Zugeru (900mw), Ikom (500mw), Hydro Power station in addition to a 750 KV transmission super grid, that will traverse Abuja, New haven, Benin- city and Lagos.

It is our belief that before you count 4,5,6 you must count, 1,2,3.  We have noted sigh a lot of concern the way ANC manner, the present administration deploys its agents of provocation and intimidation(by Armed Soldiers and Police) on innocent PHCN workers  and citizens of this country. We want to warn that Egypt tried the same model, but the people overran them. The day their soldiers will turn against them is at hand. ”

NLC, JAF urge mass resistance

Speaking, President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, urged the leadership of NUEE and workers of PHCN to keep on with the struggle until justice was done.

According to the NLC President, labour movement would not abandon PHCN workers in their resolved to fight for a better power sector in Nigeria, saying the battle field was not very far.

He said beside the unresolved issues of the power sector, the labour movement was also confronting the Federal Government on several issues and lamented that despite all entreaties.

According to him, “it is obvious that government is poised to making good its resolve to further pull down the living conditions of Nigerians by the outright removal of fuel subsidy in 2012.

This is despite all the entreaties to the Federal Government by very eminent Nigerians but it appears that the Federal Government is not interested, not even to engage workers in the discussion but it has made up its mind to remove the fuel subsidy whether Nigerians like it or not.

The majority of Nigerians have condemned it. We must wake up to the challenge to protect Nigerian workers and Nigerians in general. We must ensure that if Nigerians will enjoy dividends of democracy that dividends must not be in negativity.”

Way out of power crisis —Oshiomhole

Earlier, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State,  said there was no way the PHCN as presently managed could give Nigerians stable power supply.

According to him, “for the power sector, I believe that if Nigeria delivers the amount of megawatt needed to get our industries worming and deliver power to homes, including rural communities, the jobs in the sector will be more than double in the long run.

Therefore to keep the system as it is incapable of working, incapable of expanding and destroying jobs, is not in our interest. What we should be talking about is that in dealing with whatever it is called, whether it is privatization, deregulation, public private partnership, independent power project and the likes, you have the best possibility to insist that the basic rights of the workers to his pension, allowances and all other things he or she is entitled to must be guaranteed.”

“But you cannot say, let us continue the way it has been. We

must not wait for Nigeria to collapse because we are almost there if we do not walk fast. The leadership of your union must creatively engaged the federal government in this reform agenda. I personally believe that there is room for privatization in the power sector. If  I am wrong, it is my head, not my heart.”

On his part, Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, lamented that there had been a trust gap between government and the electricity workers in the country.

According to him, the power sector had been grossly under-funded and under invested, adding that privatization as envisaged by government is not the outright sale of PHCN but investments by private entrepreneurs.

Prof Nnaji said the power sector was in precarious condition and that government must act now in collaboration with the workers to save the industry from total collapse.