PRESS RELEASE
10TH OF SEPTEMBER, 2025
GOVERNMENT IS NOT SERIOUS ABOUT FIXING THE POWER SECTOR: IT HAS BECOME A SYSTEM DESIGNED FOR PERPETUAL DARKNESS
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) observes with utter disgust, yet a complete lack of surprise, the total collapse of the national electricity grid today. This recurrent catastrophe 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. It is part of the consequences of not listening to the citizens and other civic actors but instead insists on kowtowing to the peddlers of neoliberal policies.
This latest collapse is a stark indictment of this administration and the entire neoliberal, pro-market charade that has defined the power sector since its so-called privatization. The government, hiding behind compromised agencies, has once again demonstrated that it has neither the political will nor the ideological clarity to deliver stable electricity to the masses.
We state categorically that the problem is not a technical one; it is a problem of predatory power sector governance and a kwashiorkor economic model.
The sector is crippled because it 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. How else does one explain the scandalous appointment of a former local government chairman with no known expertise in energy economics or engineering to the pivotal position of Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)? This is not an appointment for competence; it is a political settlement, a reward for loyalty in a system that thrives on patronage at the expense of merit. It is an insult to the intelligence of every Nigerian and a clear signal that the regulatory body is designed to be a toothless bulldog, a mere rubber stamp for the profiteering of the Discos and Gencos.
The NLC has been made aware of a promised N4 Trillion government payment for these same failed operators. 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 colossal sum is not meant to “fix” anything; it is a grand scheme to indemnify failure. This N4 Trillion is more than enough to begin a radical, state-driven process of building a new, democratically-controlled power sector from the ground up; a sector owned by the people and run for the people.
We are trapped in a vicious cycle where a comprador bourgeoisie, in cahoots with their international finance capital allies, has structured the economy to serve foreign interests and a tiny local elite. The continued collapse of the grid is a direct attack on our national productivity. It kills small businesses, stifles industrialization, creates mass unemployment, and inflicts untold hardship on millions of households forced to pay exorbitant tariffs for darkness.
The NLC, therefore suggests that if truly the government is interested at all in fixing the power sector, it must fix the nature, character and capacity of its appointees in the sector. 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.
Since Government has N4 Trillion Naira to invest in the Sector, we suggest that the funds must be redirected towards a public-led initiative to build new generation capacity and revitalize the transmission infrastructure instead of handing it over to the GenCos and DisCos.
Once again, we call for a comprehensive public audit of the entire power sector since privatization failed. We call for a fundamental review of the privatization model itself, with a view to reviving this critical sector. This has become an imperative.
The working class and the suffering masses of Nigeria will no longer tolerate this darkness. We will no longer accept explanations for a crisis that is manifestly man-made. 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.
Comrade Joe Ajaero
President