The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and seven other civic groups have called on the federal government to immediately reverse the electricity sector privatisation which was consummated in 2013.
Groups that supported the call are: Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI); Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF); Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE); Child Health Organisation (CHO); Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR); Peace and Development Project (PEDEP) and Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria).
They made the demand at a symposium on the socio-economic and political implications of the privatization of public assets and the way forward organised by AUPCTRE and NUEE with support from the DGB Bildungs Wek and Public Services International (PSI) which was held in Lagos.
During the meeting, participants reviewed the electricity sector privatization and ongoing plans by President Bola Tinubu-led administration and some state governments including Lagos to privatise water assets and utilities.
AUPCTRE National President, Comrade Benjamin Anthony, who delivered the welcome address said that privatisation in all forms either in the water or electricity sector must be confronted by labour and civil society, even as he stressed that the plans to privatize water would go the same way as the electricity sector privatization if ongoing resistance to the plans was not sustained.
The keynote address titled Weaning Nigeria of Privatization in the Age of Remunicipalization and Democratic Control of Public Utilities delivered by Professor Hosea Mangu dwelt on the importance of learning from countries that have remunicipalized after testing the waters of privatization hence the need for Nigeria not to toe the privatization path.
In breaking down the issues during the panel session on People Power versus Corporate Takeover of Public Assets, five panelists set the tone for the communique which called for the reversal of the electricity sector privatization. The panelists were Comrade Waheed Sikiru, AUPCTRE National General Secretary who shed light on the topic – Access to Safe Water: Challenges and Way forward, Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of RDI who spoke on Labour-CSO Solidarity for Democratic Control of Water Resources, and Comrade Sani Baba – Executive Director, CFSF who spoke on Mobilizing international support for campaign against water privatization.
Others are Comrade Adedeye Adebiyi of NUEE who discussed Power Sector Privatization Failure: Lessons Going Forward, and Lady Vicky Onyekuru of Child Health Organisation who engaged the topic – Mobilizing Women and Grassroots Groups to Challenge Privatization.
In a communique issued at the end of the symposium, participants said that the failure of the electricity sector privatization which was consummated in 2013 was predicted and the same fate would meet the water sector unless ongoing advocacy for its halt is sustained.
They insisted that the electricity sector privatization has failed Nigeria’s over 200 million people as power generation continues to oscillate between 4000 megawatts and 5800 megawatts since the exercise was carried out.
Going further they noted that incessant power grid collapse with the most recent representing the 24th crash in 2024 is a huge embarrassment to the nation. And that Nigerians now depend on their own power generation through electric generators at huge financial, environmental and health costs.
They insisted that the incessant hike in electricity tariffs and the balkanization of Nigerians into electricity bands, suggesting who should get electricity the most is unjust, creates an unnecessary class system in the society as it weighs heavily against poor Nigerians who now struggle to pay for darkness.
The groups pointed out that the recent alarm raised by the Nigerian Senate that the electricity sector privatization has failed and should be reversed represents the reality but expressed worry that the Upper chamber is yet to work its talk by proposing the ideal way forward.
They alerted that there is also a growing trend whereby the power distribution companies abdicate responsibility of installing electricity infrastructure in local communities only to insist on owning those facilities after locals task themselves to put them in place.
In order to avoid a similar fate in the water sector, they cautioned that ongoing plans by the federal and state governments suggesting the privatisation of the nation’s water assets and utilities supported by the World Bank and other multilateral agencies and donors have become very worrisome and unsettling to Nigerians.
The communique further reads: “Workers continue to carry the biggest burdens of privatisation through job losses, displacements and uncertainty of job security in their workplaces.”
Going forward they demanded the reversal of electricity sector privatization and a halt to discussions on privatising public assets and utilities, in addition to the reversal of the tariff hikes and end of balkanization of Nigerians into tariff bands that create class and segregation.
They urged the Nigerian Senate to convene a Public Hearing to allow Nigerians to air their views on the state of electricity sector privatization and urged the government to halt all World Bank and IMF suggested initiatives on privatizing Nigeria’s water assets under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) or any model that puts profits over service delivery and human rights. Instead, they recommended the adoption of the Public Public Partnership model which has proven to be successful as against privatisation which has become a conduit pipe to fleece the nation.
For public sector workers, they want sustained investment in human capital development to pave the way for efficiency and transparency in their operations while urging the government to stop practices that unfairly target workers in exercises that are carried out to strengthen government institutions.