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Electricity Workers Threaten To Shut Down National Grid
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has threatened to shut down the national grid once more.
The Union had given the Federal Government two weeks to resolve the problem, but according to the electricity workers, that time has elapsed.
While briefing reporters in Kaduna on Thursday, Comrade Dukat Ayuba, the zonal organizing secretary for NUEE’s North West region, revealed that while negotiations were still ongoing, the shutdown of the national grid was imminent.
He claimed that the sector’s so-called privatization was a fraud and that, nine (9) years later, nothing had changed to make its operations better, particularly for electricity consumers.
He said;
“That was why we kicked against privitasing the distribution sector, because the investors don’t have the capacity and expertise. As committed Nigerians, we advised government against it. But the government was hell bent on doing so.”
He noted out that the investors were still using outdated equipment that was 35, 40, and 50 years old. He claimed that one would have expected them to replace the outdated equipment when the investors arrived, but nothing had been done.
He expressed regret that the country continued to produce 5,000 megawatts of electricity, noting that this is the same amount that they had been producing before privatization.
The corporation now generates megawatts at greater prices, he continued, causing sufferings in the homes of millions of Nigerians, which is what all Nigerians are currently going through.
A Central Executive Committee member named Wisdom Nwachukwu stated that the federal government now intends to sell the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
He stated that they were going behind meeting with some stakeholders and that they would not allow that, as they were patriotic Nigerians that want the best for the country.
Ado Gaya, the Vice President, North West, NUEE, while elaborating further, revealed that the 16 months demanded by the electricity workers is their legitimate earnings which involved 55,000 workers.
He explained that nine years after, the workers have not received a dime, regretting that many of the workers had died, while those who were laid off were suffering with their families receiving nothing to help them make a living”