NLC blames incessant grid collapse on failed privatization, looting cabal

…rejects ₦4trn bailout, demands public power reform

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the Federal Government of deliberately keeping Nigerians in perpetual darkness through failed policies and corrupt management of the power sector.

NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in a statement on Wednesday, said the incessant collapse of the national grid was not accidental but the outcome of a system designed for looting rather than service delivery.

“The total collapse of the national electricity grid today is not an accident; it is the direct and inevitable result of a capitalist ruling class that has deliberately engineered the power sector to fail, to loot, and to keep the Nigerian people in a state of perpetual under-development and exploitation.” Ajaero said

He described the latest collapse as “a stark indictment of this administration and the entire neoliberal, pro-market charade that has defined the power sector since its so-called privatization.”

According to him, the government had shown that it lacked both the political will and the ideological clarity to deliver stable electricity to Nigerians.

Rejecting explanations that blamed technical faults, the labour leader insisted that “The problem is not a technical one; it is a problem of predatory power sector governance and a kwashiorkor economic model.”

Ajaero further alleged that the sector was crippled because it was being run by political cronies and profiteers.

“The sector is run by a cabal of the wrong individuals; unqualified political cronies and economic buccaneers who see our national infrastructure not as a tool for development, but as a trough from which to siphon public wealth,” he said.

He cited as an example the appointment of a former local government chairman without technical expertise as Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), describing it as “a political settlement, a reward for loyalty in a system that thrives on patronage at the expense of merit.”

On government’s reported plan to inject ₦4 trillion into the sector, the NLC President said the Congress vehemently reject the move.

“We reject this outright! To sink another kobo of public money into the pockets of these private entities is an act of economic betrayal against the Nigerian people. This ₦4 Trillion is more than enough to begin a radical, state-driven process of building a new, democratically-controlled power sector from the ground up.”

He stressed that continued collapse of the grid was killing small businesses, stifling industrialization, and worsening unemployment.

“It inflicts untold hardship on millions of households forced to pay exorbitant tariffs for darkness,” Ajaero noted.

The labour centre advised the government to reform leadership in the power sector, insisting that “getting the right individual to head NERC and the replacement of all key leadership in the sector with proven, experienced, and patriotic technocrats, not political jobbers, would be key to reviving the sector.”

The Congress further called for a public audit of the entire power sector since privatization, saying only a fundamental review of the model could restore hope. “This has become an imperative,” the NLC maintained.

Declaring that Nigerians would no longer accept excuses, Ajaero warned: “The working class and the suffering masses will no longer tolerate this darkness. That Government has continued on this path of deliberate failure demonstrates its unseriousness in getting the sector fixed.

“This is not a plea; it is a declaration of intent. The light must come on, by any means necessary.”