… Demands sweeping energy sector overhaul
ABUJA — The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Sunday firmly rejected the proposed N6 trillion bailout for power generation companies, declaring that years of financial interventions have failed to deliver meaningful improvements in electricity supply across the country.
In a strongly worded statement issued in Abuja, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described the planned bailout as a superficial response to deeper, systemic failures plaguing Nigeria’s power sector, insisting that further public spending on the current framework would only perpetuate inefficiency.
He argued that repeated injections of funds into the sector have not translated into better service delivery, noting that Nigerians continue to grapple with erratic power supply, rising tariffs and widespread outages.
“The proposed N6 trillion bailout is a mere symptom of deeper structural failures in the power sector,” Ajaero said. “We cannot continue to deploy public funds to sustain a fundamentally flawed system, while ordinary citizens bear the burden of inefficiency through high tariffs and persistent outages.”
The labour leader called on the Federal Government to abandon the bailout plan and instead embark on comprehensive structural reforms aimed at addressing the root causes of the sector’s underperformance.
Central to the NLC’s proposal is the merger of the Ministries of Petroleum and Power into a single, unified Ministry of Energy, a move Ajaero said would improve coordination and resolve longstanding inefficiencies, particularly those linked to gas supply for thermal power generation.
He maintained that the current separation of the two critical sectors has contributed significantly to operational bottlenecks, undermining efforts to achieve stable electricity generation and distribution.
According to him, establishing an integrated energy framework would enable the country to prioritise domestic electricity needs, strengthen energy security and drive sustainable national development.
The NLC also took a swipe at what it described as the continued use of public funds to prop up failing private investments in the power sector, warning that such an approach is neither sustainable nor in the public interest.
Ajaero stressed that electricity must be recognised as a social service and a fundamental right of citizens, rather than being treated solely as a profit-driven commodity.
He noted that the prevailing structure places an undue financial burden on Nigerians, particularly workers, and called for reforms that prioritise service delivery, affordability and the overall welfare of the populace.
To chart a new course for the sector, the NLC urged the government to convene a broad-based stakeholders’ summit that would produce a people-centred roadmap for the power industry.
Such a forum, he said, should focus on policies that promote public interest, guarantee energy security and ensure that the benefits of electricity access are equitably distributed across the country.
The union insisted that without bold and far-reaching reforms, further financial interventions would amount to little more than temporary fixes, leaving the fundamental challenges of Nigeria’s power sector unresolved.
