The Nigeria Labour Congress has challenged the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) to justify the N6trillion Federal Government’s debt call after buying the privatised assets of the successor companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria for N400billion.
The union’s challenge came on the heels of remarks that power generation companies are not crooks, and play critical roles in the country’s power sector despite the N6trillion unpaid debt by the Federal Government.
Premium News report that both parties have exchanged hot words in the last few days over the state of the country’s power sector after its privatisation 13 years ago.
Joe Ajaero, president of NLC, in the current remarks said his group stood by its earlier position that those who bought the assets for a paltry N400billion were buccaneers and only interested in pauperizing Nigerians at the expense of their profit margin.
He said:”APGC and Co need to explain to Nigerians why they bought the entire Power assets for around N400 billion, but GENCOs alone are demanding N6 trillion as APGC admitted not even the N3 trillion Federal Government wanted to pay! The APGC’s press statement conveniently avoids the most scandalous contradiction at the heart of this debate. The APGC speaks of outstanding payments, but let us talk about the grotesque mathematics of plunder.
“The entire power sector assets were sold for about Four Hundred Billion Naira (N400 billion). Yet, we are now told that the Federal Government is contemplating a bailout of Three Trillion Naira (N3 trillion) for the very same GENCOs who have failed to generate additional megawatt above pre-privatisation installed capacity.
“We ask the Nigerian people; can a man sell his house for 400b and then turn around to pay the buyer 3 trillion because the buyer mismanaged the property? This is not economics; this is a plunder. This is a clandestine scheme to transfer an additional three trillion Naira of public wealth; money belonging to workers, pensioners, and the masses; into the pockets of a handful of speculators. They call it business, but we call it heist.
“We dare the APGC to deny that from the very beginning, the sellers of these assets are in bed with the buyers. This incestuous relationship was an open secret, and this latest attempt at a bailout is the final stage of that heist. It is a continuation of the primitive accumulation of capital by a comprador elite who have cornered the levers of power to enrich themselves at the expense of over 200 million Nigerians.
“We need to educate the palpable ignorance of the APGC though we think they are deeply incompetent and cannot pretend to be representing GENCOS, so that they will avoid this shocking display of ignorance.
Puncturing the power generation companies’ remarks that NLC lacks the capacity to understand the power sector, Ajaero hinted that the leadership of the union played active and leading roles in the struggle against this flawed privatisation exercise two decades ago.
He urged the power generation companies to publish a full and comprehensive list of the beneficial owners of all GENCOs and other power assets to enable Nigerians see the faces of those demanding this N6 trillion.
He demanded the highest Megawatt (MW) of electricity the companies have generated, delivered to the national grid and the objectives of the privatisation they have met since they took over the assets.
According to him, the companies promised to unleash technical capacity, Foreign Direct Investment, generate the power that would illuminate Nigeria, but rather delivered darkness and debt.
He also asked how much has the GENCOs paid to the federal government that is supposed to own about 40% equity in their companies as dividend since the last 10yrs of operation.
He added: We believe not a single kobo. One is therefore aghast at what moral grounds the GENCOs would be standing to make such atrocious demand of N6 trillion if not because it believes that it is above the state.
“It is important that we ask the GENCOs to make public how much Nigerians were paying as electricity tariff before they captured assets of the Power sector and how much Nigerians are paying now? They should tell Nigerians whether tariff has not gone up by over 500% since with stagnant generation and sometimes zero generation. Is it not immoral to continue extorting this huge hike in tariffs from Nigerians yet, APGC has the nerves to request for N6trn? This is utterly brazen!
“It is an indictment of this failed model that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, frustrated by the paralysis you have caused, now reportedly seeks to remove the seat of power from the national grid and generate its own electricity.
“We ask the APGC: If the President, with all the resources of the state, is forced to generate his own power, does that not prove our point? Has the nation not been taken hostage by a cartel?
“NLC remains insistent that the state must return as the primary driver of the power sector. Electricity is a social service, not a commodity to be auctioned to the highest bidder. We reject the impudent demand for N6 trillion and this planned N3 trillion bailout. We reject the failed privatisation model.”