Following the precarious electricity situation in the country, the Nigerian Senate has been urged to urgently convene a public hearing on the sector’s performance since 2013.

The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) and two civil society organisations – the Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) and the Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF) – gave the charge in a letter to the Nigerian Senate dated January 27, 2025.

The letter, addressed to the Senate President, Dr. Godswill Akpabio, was jointly signed by Adedeye Adebiyi and Dominic Igwebike, NUEE National President and General Secretary, Benjamin Anthony and Sikiru Waheed, AUPCTRE National President and General Secretary, Sani Baba, Executive Director of CFSF and Philip Jakpor, Executive Director, RDI.

The groups lamented that the electricity sector privatization has failed Nigeria’s over 230 million population with power generation still oscillating between 4,000 megawatts and 5,800 megawatts, in addition to incessant power grid collapse, which, they noted, is now a huge embarrassment to the nation.

The position of the groups is coming a month after they organised a one-day symposium on the Socio-Economic and Political Implications of Privatization of Public Assets and the Way Forward, which was held in Lagos in December 2024, where they x-rayed the report of the Senate Committee on Power, which investigated the frequent national grid collapses and related issues and came to the conclusion that the sector was in turmoil.

In the letter, the groups affirmed that the hike in electricity tariffs and the balkanization of Nigerians into electricity bands, suggesting who should get electricity the most, has equally created an unnecessary class system in the society.

The groups noted that, a result of these, Nigerians are forced to depend on electric generators at huge financial, environmental and health costs.

They urged the Senate to immediately convene a Public Hearing and invite Nigerians to relate their experiences in the last 12 years of the electricity sector privatization.

The power sector groups said that another key demand is a halt to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested initiatives on privatizing Nigeria’s public assets under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) or any model that places profits over service delivery and human rights.

Instead, the groups called for the adoption of the Public-Public-Partnership model, which has proven to be successful as against privatization, which is inefficient and has become a conduit pipe to fleece the nation

They also advocated for the sustained investment in human capital development in the public sector, to pave way for efficiency and transparency in their operations.

The groups as well demanded an end to practices that unfairly target workers in exercises that are carried out to strengthen government institutions and advocated that workers should be regularly trained and rated based on performance.