Electricty workers have threatened to resist the proposed declaration of a state of emergency in the power sector by President Umaru Yar�Adua
The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees, said at a news conference in Lagos on Wednesday that the plan was unconstitutional.
They also accused Yar�Adua and the Minister of State for Energy (Power), Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim, at the conference addressed by their President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, of lacking the �vision and vigour�to revamp the sector.
Ajaero, in company with other national executives of the union, berated the Federal Government of turning electricity workers into paupers.
He alleged that salary reviews, promotions, welfare and training had become alien to the workers in the power sector.
Ajaero said, �All efforts made by our union to have audience with the President or his minister of state on the sector to enable us make input on the state of the power sector has been met with deaf ears.
�The unconstitutionality of the said state of emergency notwithstanding, the workers in Power Holding Company of Nigeria have been working under harsh conditions, reminiscent of a state of emergency, hence we are at a loss to understand what Mr. President is out to achieve in the power sector.�
Ajaero said it was regrettable that people who could �not differentiate between a radio transistor and electric transformer,� were the ones that take policy decisions on issues affecting the power sector.
He warned that electricity workers would not be available for work one minute after the emergency in the sector.
The NUEE president said, �Where are the 21 companies, including the ones owned by the former President(Olusegun Obasanjo) and Aliko Dangote(a business mogul) that was licensed to generate, transmit and distribute power?
�What happened to them? They want to use public funds to create an unconstitutional emergency in the sector, benefit from it and then sell it out to their friends and cronies under the guise of privitasation.�
He said even if the President spent �all the money in the world� on the power sector, without the training and improvement of the welfare package of electricity workers, all the efforts would be wasted.
�We are yet to see the result of the promotion interview held since Feburary 2008, and worst still, management has been adamant about the 21-day ultimatum given to it by the union for the release of the promotion letters,� Ajaero said.
The Vice-President of the Union (East), Mr. Aneke. H. Chimaobi, told one of our correspondents that the Federal Government needed to let Nigerians know the truth about who and what was responsible for the continued power outages in Nigeria.
Chimaobi said, �Our employees are the most vilified and abused in the annals of public service in Nigeria. You cannot blame Nigerians because most of them do not know the truth about power generation, transmission and distribution in this country.
�Too many selfish and private interests are always at stake at the expense of Nigeria and Nigerians. What the employees of the sector intend to do now is to let Nigerians know that the continued darkness is not caused by the workers.
Yar�Adua had on June 13, in Paris, France, said his administration would formally declare a state of emergency in the power sector in July.
He had announced the plan since his assumption of office on May 29, 2007, as part of his seven-point agenda to revive Nigeria�s economy.
But in a live broadcast on his first year anniversary, the President told Nigerians not to expect regular power supply until 2011.
Amidst criticisms by stakeholders of procrastinating on the issue , Yar�Adua claimed that there was no legal backing for the declaration of emergency in the sector. He also said there was not enough gas to feed the power plants.
According to him, Nigeria had sold all her gas through exports and that the agreements entered into with the international oil companies on gas would have to be re-negotiated over a period of seven years.
Yar�Adua, who was responding to concerns expressed by prospective French investors over current power supply problems in Nigeria, said that the emergency would be in force for three years.
The President also said that after three years, the generation and distribution infrastructure would be privatised while transmission infrastructure would remain under the control of a state-owned company.
He said the overall plan was to establish a proper foundation for the increment of Nigeria�s power generation capacity to about 50,000 megawatts by the 2020.