THE Minister of Power and the two in-house unions in the Power Sector, National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, are scheduled to meet on February 18, after what could be regarded as their interface, in Lagos last month. Few days to the meeting in Lagos, the General Secretary of NUEE, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who could not attend the Lagos meeting, spoke to Sweet Crude Correspondent, Victor Ahiuma-Young, on some issue in the sector.

Excerpts

People have argued that the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, has not shown enough commitment to improve the power sector and power supply in the country. What is your response?

The union has shown enough interest to ensure that the sector perform and work for the benefit of Nigerians that is why we are at the collusion point with the powers that be and that is why we have been inconvenienced so much, more than any other groups in this country.

When I said inconvenienced, I mean every word of it. It was based on this that soldiers were first deployed to all the stations in 2010, it was based on this that police were stationed in our national secretariat even with Armoured carriers and during the protest that followed across the country, many of our members were brutalized, arrested on this same course.

It was based on this that some people came here (Secretariat) to abduct us and actually abducted the Assistant General Secretary, AGS Administration and my personal Assistant only to take them to EFCC office when they realized I was not there. The people came and started breaking doors which is not the way the EFCC we know operates.

EFCC would have invited us if we did anything wrong, the commission would have written us letter and they would have even called us to come to their office assuming we have public funds that we are tempering with or did anything wrong. But these people came here armed to their teeth and were seriously looking for the General Secretary and when they did not see him, they abducted two people. It was because of this conviction that we are even at this process now.

We have to report to EFCC only for us to hear that some executive directors were diverting union funds or levy. Initially, they said our levy was illegal and we told them that we derived such powers to collect levy from the organs of the union and if they say there is a levy and we impose it, it is a non-governmental agency.

We told them that if this was part of the check-off dues on some of the allowances on monetization, what was imposed was even small. Yet, these agencies would still come every time as if they are trying to use them against us or to moderate us. You know as a union, we will not allow ourselves to be cowed.

Again last year, your paper reported it, when they swooped on my vehicle, carried the driver and left. They were looking for me and when they did not get me, they dropped the driver and later abandoned the car. So, these are some of the things we have passed through by insisting that the right thing should be done.

You have also seen the kind of media assassination since late last year on our persons, on our mission and it has continued that way because they do not like dialogue. Nobody has said, wait a minute, let us engage these people on how best we can achieve better result. It is the use of raw power of the gun.

We have shown enough commitment and provided incontrovertible evidence that privatization has not and will not work in Nigeria and that the power sector is too sensitive for anybody toy with. They toyed with Daily Times; we have option to read Vanguard and other newspapers. They toyed with Ajaokuta Steel and so on, none of them is working today.

If you traced the history of over 50 countries that tried privatization of the power sector, and we have challenged them to tell us where this has worked. They have not and they are forcing us to accept that Nigerians should swallow this bitter pill that is where we differ.

What they are prescribing is not good for the country. Even if we fear the troops now being deployed, there is no way we can leave our work places, having work for 30 years, 10, 20 and so on, without getting our entitlements and we must sit down to look at these issues.

Some have alleged that you are fighting a personal agenda with your position as the General Secretary of NUEE, using event that happened in Enugu during the minimum wage struggle as an example. What is your response?

Let the people who claim that I am fighting personal agenda tell Nigerians the agenda. I want it to be placed on records that all the Ministers of power that I have worked with, I have not visited any of them in their office and I do not know the colour of their office whether it is yellow or brown. I have not even taken a cup of water from any of them. Assuming I am not visiting the one there now, that is my style and I have been operating that way. Let any of them come out to controvert that and I am comfortable with what I am still doing.

To say it is a personal fight, it is very mischievous because we are just servants of the union and we are doing its bidding. They should know that where you have a union with over 25,000 members, you cannot impose you will on them if it is possible. There are organs, at the Central Executive Council meeting, National Executive Council meeting and even at the national conference, members give directives and I cannot go contrary to that.

If I do, it means I am playing with my job. If they say we do not want this and I say I want it, it means I am tired of doing the job. I think they should be educated on the workings of a union. If they have better argument, they should bring it forward.

In the case of Enugu or whatever, I am not from Enugu for those talking about political calculation. But the incident of Enugu was a Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, problem. We lodged at a hotel and the governor there locked us there and deployed soldiers to ensure that we did not leave the hotel.

The President of the country has not till today, told us that he ordered the deployment of the soldiers because constitutionally, only the president can order the deployment of soldiers. Even when we came out, we were attacked and beaten up by hired thugs.

You can ask Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, the NLC president about this. So, in reaction to what happened in Enugu, the workers including electricity workers did what they thought was necessary. It is the same way Nigerians would react if their governors or president is locked up by anybody. I do not think anybody should read any personal or political meaning to it. If I am interested in politics, I will go to my state, not Enugu.

Has there been any attempt to compromise you?