The Nigerian Union of
Electricity Employees (NUEE) on Friday called on the National Assembly (NASS)
to urgently review the Electricity Act to protect consumers from incessant
power outage and tariff increases.
The union also said that
the measure would ensure stable supply of electricity by operators of the
industry.
Mr Akoh Ndubusi, the
Senior Assistant Secretary General of NUEE, made the appeal in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to Ndubusi, the
call is necessary to put the power generation and distribution companies on
their toes.
``Before the
privatisation of the power sector we had about 4000 mega watt, but look at what
is happening today, power generation has dropped a lot; so, how can Nigerians
get the dividend of this privatisation.
``A lot of us are always
running our generators and you know how much it cost to buy fuel now; it
involves everyone in the society.
``We are not living in
the moon; we all need electricity just as the other ordinary Nigerian needs it.
``We don't need to blame
anybody in the sector, instead, it is time for the government to look inward
and marshal out plans on how to improve the privatised power sector,'' he said.
However, he said that
even though the power sector had been privatised, it was still the duty of the
Federal Government to ensure that the sector was effectively supervised.
Ndubuisi noted that
effective supervision and monitoring were the best ways the power distribution
and generating companies would ensure steady generation and distribution of
electricity to Nigerians.
``What these private
people know is how to collect money and increase tariff; it is difficult for
them to mount one transformer since they came on board.
``The vehicles they are
using today, if not hired, are the ones left by former Power Holding Company of
Nigeria (PHCN).
``So they have not added
any value here since they came on board; the privatisation has not attracted
any foreign direct investment.
``If you look at the
transmission companies for instant, they cannot effectively supply
electricity,'' he added.
He alleged that some of
the DISCOs do not have the capacity to distribute the mega watt sent to them to
distribute to Nigerians.
``So it is important for
government to take action on the power sector because if they leave it in the
hands of these capitalists, we will go into total darkness with what we are
seeing now.
``The Act must be
reviewed because this is where the development of any country is when we are
talking about creating jobs.
``If we have constant electricity
in this country, every unemployed youth will look for one thing or the other to
do and a lot of other things will fall in line.''
Besides, the scribe urged
the federal government to pay them their outstanding benefits and severance
packages. (NAN)
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