NLC Rejects FG’s Plan to Restructure TCN

Posted by Thandiubani on Thu 14th Dec, 2023 - tori.ng

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made this known in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has said it will not accept Federal Government’s plan to restructure the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

This was made public by NLC President, Joe Ajaero in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the plan by the government through the BPE to sell off its 40 per cent shares in electricity distribution companies in the capital market in 2024 could spell doom for the Power sector.

According to Ajaero, the restructuring plan is an attempt to give control of the company to the elite class and render the poor useless.

He said: “It portends great danger to the Power sector and holds great fear and trepidation for major stakeholders within the Power sector. It imperils the ability of the state to control, regulate and guarantee the safety of the nation’s grid system at all times.

“We want to quickly say that the idea behind the so-called plans to restructure is the same big grammar that was spoken before and during the failed privatisation exercise of the sector. They are the same stories that Nigerians have heard over the years which have largely yielded no significant results except the increased suffering that the exercise became for Nigerian people and the economy.

“The main motive behind the plans for the proposed restructuring is none other than to prepare the TCN for eventual takeover by the cronies and lackeys of the ruling elite.”

Ajaero also detailed that President Bola Tinubu was on course to repeat what he termed as the same mistake the previous government had embarked on.

He added: “NLC believes that the President is making the same mistake previous administrations have made with the policy direction his Minister of power is trying to follow in seeking to unbundle TCN for privatization.

“We had thought that the President would have convened a genuine national stakeholders’ forum to critically review the Privatisation exercise in the sector which the government itself agrees has failed to attain any of its major objectives rather than seeking to embark on another exercise that would bring more crisis to the Power sector.”