There Is Nothing Special About The Improvement In Electricity Supply – Labor Leader, Mr. Joseph Ajero

Minister of Power, Bart Nnaji-REUTERS Photo
By SaharaTV, New York

The much talked about improvement in power supply in Nigeria has been dismissed as mere seasonal increase by the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Mr. Joseph Ajero. He made the assertion during an exclusive interview with SaharaTV’s Rudolf Okonkwo over the weekend.

“Well, the improvement is not carried out by Prof Bart or anybody in his department; they do not work in the power stations…” Mr. Ajero said. “If there is improvement, it’s by the workforce.”
 
He went on to explain, “However, by this time of the year every year, because there is this water level in the hydro dams, when the water level improves, the dams do very well.”
 
Mr. Ajero challenged the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji to provide a relative analysis of the improvement this year and that of last year for Nigerians to compare. He added, “there was equally an argument that the gas supply has improved so already we have installed capacity of nearly 7,000 mega watts. If we have that installed capacity and gas situation improves and the water level improves, definitely the power supply will improve.”
 
The National Union of Electricity Employees has been at loggerhead with the minister starting from when he was an adviser to the presidency on Power. The NUEE has accused the minister of having conflict of interest in his dealings with the power sector. They also blame him for not following due process in his bid to privatize the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Of recent, however, the sticking point has been over workers' entitlements.
 
Ajero, who is also the Deputy President of the Nigerian Labor Congress, described as unacceptable the minister's decision to ignore the condition of service of staff thus cutting their entitlement by as much as 50 percent. He blamed the problem on the minister’s undervaluation of PHCN's assets.
 
“The evaluation they came out with, they said it’s about 200 billion Naira,” Mr. Ajero said. “And N200 billion Naira is not up to the landed property or houses of the PHCN. So having devalued it and they have entitlement that is more than even what they valued the PHCN, they are trying to justify their evaluation.”  
 
Mr. Ajero alleged that the minister collected N395 million for PHCN for media in three months reaffirming that, “this is in black and white.”  He charged that this was fraudulent, “PHCN does not fund the Ministry of Power, ministry has its own budget… the money was not appropriated that’s the allegation,” Ajero stated.
 
Last week, Mr. Ajero called on the minister to resign for taking money out of PHCN to pay the military who are guarding PHCN installations. He also accused the minister of buying two bullet-proof vehicles with the approval of President Goodluck Jonathan while at the same time claiming there was no money to pay workers their entitlement. The union leader announced that he was exploring legal options as well as the possibility of tabling the case before the National Assembly.
 

On the allegation that his electricity union members were conniving with generator importers to frustrate reforms in the power sector, Mr. Ajero told SaharaTV’s Rudolf Okonkwo that it was part of Prof. Nnaji’s effort to criminalize the agitations of the workers using mischievous allegations.
 
“During the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo,” Ajero said, “the major importer of generators to the (Aso Rock) villa was Prof. Bart Nnaji. So he is in that league.”  He then added, “If there is a relationship between us and the importers they should make it public.”
 
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) has now joined in the call for Prof. Bart Nnaji to negotiate with the workers and pay them their entitlements. But most Nigerians do not have any sympathy for the electricity workers or the NLC for that matter, a fact that did not escape Mr. Ajero.
 
“They don’t need to have sympathy for my union,” he said. “We don’t deserve sympathy from them. What we need is our entitlement.”
 
To watch the full interview visit http://youtu.be/k2uJuzXEGDw

 

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PHCN

I am weeping for Nigeria because these so called PHCN staff are holding us to ransom. How many businesses have been closed because of no power - uncountable. How many people have lost their jobs because of no power - uncountable. How much food have we lost because our refridgerators cannot preserve due to power problem - millions of tons. How many investments have been directed to other countries because there is no regular power in Nigeria - uncountable. How many houses have been burnt because of epileptic power supply - uncountable. The PHCN people should allow the government to privatise if they do not want to incur the wrath of Nigerians. We all see the dividend since telecom was privatised.

If the PHCN people continue to block the privatisation, it is time the citizens all rise up against them and demolish their selfishness. Enough is enough. Please pass this round to Nigerians to prepare for the revolution.

why the bad language

i wonder why the bad language. if the increase in power supply is as a result of the season, we shall know when we enter the dry season. even if the improvement is as a result of increase in gas supply, somebody must have facilitated it. what matters is that there is reasonable increase in power supply and Nigerians are happy. i will advise prof. Nnaji to do his best in ensuring the sustainability of this increase in power supply to Nigerians. prof should also make sure that workers get their entitlement and on time.

He shut up and recognize the

He shut up and recognize the reality on the ground.

All PHCN staff should be

All PHCN staff should be ashamed of themselves. you idiots should sit down and read carefully the comments from the public. Everybody is condemning you & that means you have failed woefully.God will punish all of you if you do not quietly pack your loads and go back to your villages to spend your dubious money on sicknesses and diseases. Animals

Mr Ajero should shut up his

Mr Ajero should shut up his smelling mouth. All PHCN staff are bunch of irresponsible & thieves. they make you to pay for transformer, poles, wire, workmanship & eventually very high & dubious bills for services not rendered. They should be sacked without entitlements. Bastards.

JEALOUS FOOL

YOU ARE A JEALOUS FOOL

@A E JOHNSON

A E JOHNSON you are a complete idiot to claim that you an authority because you 'work with turbine' in an oil firm. So you and turbine work together in an oil firm? You came to this public forum to display such crass ignorance and still went further without fear to claim that you are an authority. Johnson if I may ask which kind of turbine did you worked with in the oil firm. In fact tell us the oil firm, we can verify it. It is not only speed as you said that is contributory to generate electric power in turbine system. Tell me the dam that is now running speed due to raining season and what is the install capacity of the dam?

mr. ajaero et al...

Olusegun Olaleye must be reminded that this coutry belong to freeborn Nigerians where expressions are free by virtue of our constitution. therefore nobody has alienable right to use any vulgar language on any other Nigerian. This columnist demand an unreserved apology for Mr. Ajaero from you pls.

I love this reference to the

I love this reference to the 1986 story where NEPA said an end to blackout had come. Yet 26yrs later we seem to be having more darkness. Why is this so? Who is responsible? Without mincing words I like to say that it is both the FGN and past and present workers in the power sector. All the parties are guilty but not equally. The FGN is the biggest culprit here.past and present and I dare say future administrations see and will see the power sector as its source of free money. Huge sums of money is voted for power projects but what actually gets to the project site is paltry. In most cases, it is not enough to start the project let alone to complete it.

Deny your fathers name to discredit Jonathan

This propaganda about power improving every rainy season is STUPID and CANNOT fly. Didn't we experience rainy season last yr and the year before? How come we didn't see this MAGNITUDE of power improvement? Personally I've NEVER experienced ALL ROUND 24HRS(no power failure for even 1second in a day) power supply in Nigeria until this time. This is the FIRST TIME i'm experiencing such. The so called DAMS people talk about have maximum power capacity that CANNOT be exceeded even if the whole of Atlantic Ocean is emptied into it. Moreover most of these dams were, until recently, in DISREPAIR as they've never been rehabilitated since they were built in the 70s. Also a COMBINATION of IMPROVED power generation, transmission and distribution the culminates in IMPROVED power supply to our homes. Those who watch the TV programme,POWER TRACK, will appreciate how much work has been done in the power sector in the last 2yrs. Also the 1yr gas-to-power emergency plan of Deziani is yielding fruit

WE WANT VALUE FOR OUR MONEY !

My honourable Minister,if u fail to achieve full privatisation of power sector in order to give Nigerians a sigh of relief from the incessant power outage and save billions of naira spent on generator importation and maintenance yearly,then posterities will not forgive u.

nepa

nepa+strike= more light

nepa+no strike. = little or no light

Therefore: nepa workers are saboteurs

QED

How gas suply is less

Am sory 4 Niaja graduate. When d labour leader said d gas suply improve during this time of d year, d so called educated asked how d improvement come about an said d man contradicted himself. Pls not dat d gas quality is dependent on temperature. Infact, d heat exchange dat does dis work perform wel during this period of raining season. U may not understand this, i wil advice u stop misleading d public. d labour leader was an is correct. Pls get quality education as d power minister is fighting 4 his pocket soon we wil realize dis

We are ignorant

Pls when an event have to do with technicality an who dont have such you need to short your dirty mouth. It is a known fact that every raining season the power suply have to improve. Two facts are responsible for this- 1. The dam current flow wil increase thereby increasing the turbine speed. Remember the law of more speed more power. 2. Most users of electrical appliance put them off such as AC, FAN, Even welders, tv repairer have less patronage, the rate of using submerable pump to suply water to d house reduces, d list can go on. That is why u have some how steady power suply dis period of the year. I worked with turbine throghout my life in an oil firm so i talk as an authority in d field

Mr. Ajero is an idiot

He said " If we have that installed capacity and gas situation improves and the water level improves, definitely the power supply will improve.”

How did gas situation improve? Idiot!!! 

Look at how the idiot contradicted himself. Give honour to whom it's due.

A lot of people I asked in South Naija say there's improved power supply.

Prof Bart Nnaji is trying. More grease to his elbow. 

Mr Ajero, go and bury your head in shit. 

Olusegun Olaleye

THIS COMMENT IS SO EXPECTED FROM LABOUR

THESE IDIOTS LABOUR UNION FOLKS SCREAM FOR INVESTORS TO CONSIDER NIGERIA, BUT THEY LOVE TO GO ON STRIKE. NO SANE INVESTOR WILL RISK SINKING HIS FUND INTO A LAZY WORK FORCE THAT REFUSES TO WORK. BUNCH OF LOSERS.

Dismiss Erring Officers.

It is high time to dismiss such untrusted Nigerians.

Buhari's WAI worked

Is only a shallow brain person that will say that Gen Buhari's WAI did not bring a positive change to Nigeria people within the short period he ruled.You can talk of Mamser and Needs and not WAI.

Ajero is an ARMED ROBBER!!!!

If this man Ajero is clear of PHCN staff pension money that is missing, why did he order the staffs to be leave the hall where Minister of Labour, Minister of Power and Press men came to meet with NLC, NUEE leaders and the PHCN staffs to discuss face to face about their missing pension money? Unionism is the problem of this country and Ajero is a LICENCED THIEVE like his Oga.

PHCN

Old newspaper headline reads:No more black out,1986 deadline-NEPA!!! Twenty six years latter we are still dark ! "Good People, great nation" ?

Nigerians' only desire! Electricity

There is no gain saying that most of these people will still be re-employed into the privatized company so asking for ridiculous severance is day light robbery. However, its good that such a thing is happening as banters are being thrown and people are now very conscious of the efforts being put into power. However, a peaceful resolution to this issue is what should be sort because most of these PHCN workers may end up jobless and result in vandalization of PHCN property. Suffice to say that they may even gang up and become insurgents like we are seeing with Boko Haram. The minister should not succumb to cheap blackmail but should find an amicable resolution to the crisis as some of these workers are always on hand to forment crisis especially when things aren't going their way..

Instead of light- its letter of sack-Nnaji na so?

Only progress we were able to make in the area of power generation was to change the name of NEPA to PHCN period. Its really sad to have Nnaji who spent most of his time penning his thoughts on how to make light available to every 9ja if given the chance from d USA, now issue sack letters to workers instead of D much needed light. Jona did fall for his loud mouth indeed. As a result of which GEJ financially empowered him to perform. Our socalled Intellectuals are the greated problem we have in 9ja-they are not patriots. That is why they initiate all these half baked policies-just to make money for themselves. They urged OBJ to embark on the sale of gov owned firms via el rufia, to houses in abuja, USA and London.Yet not a penny can be accounted for. Now civil servants pay through the nose in abuja to get a roof over their heads-Buhari WAI, IBB Mamser-Obj Needs. Still no head no tail-we keep on going round in circles-I begi, let us split biko.

You need the understanding of Nigerians

Did I read Comrade Ajaero well that he does not need the sympathy of Nigerians whose patrimony you want to collect as questionable entitlement? My dear sir, let your years of cheating Nigerians off their hard earned money in the guise of estimated bills and bribery not becloud your senses. So you think that you can hold the nation to ransom and collect the greedy 'entitlement' without the understanding of Nigerians? Things do not work that way any longer my dear comrade. Go back and respect your minister and win his understanding or you will be worse than those NITEL workers who treated Nigerians the same way. Good day and tough luck comrade.

Rubbish

Joe Ajero and his ilk represent the bane of this hapless nation. They are half-baked, idiotic, retrogressive, obstructive, offensive, odious and delibrately fill up the the public space with their stench. They court and pay the media with unearned money to continually foul the public space with their stench.
My honest advise to Joe Ajero and his bunch is that they should spare us by retiring back to thier various villages to farm or fish as they lack the air to be in the public domain!

NEPA WORKERS, UNIONS AND NLC ARE MONUMENTAL THIEVES

Barth Nnaji is an excellent performer. Imagine the electricity workers trying to sabotage his good efforts. Where is respect for law in Nigeria. 2004 pension reform acts stipulates that all payments be made into an RSA, yet the workers want the money paid directly to them. What nonsense? Again, they have refused to contribute their own 7.5% by law since 2004. Now the present govt said, ok we will pay into ur RSA what you have refused to pay and including govt's 7.5% which makes it 15%. The stupid workers said no, they want 25%. Which law covers that? They went on further to make demand for 10 years gross salary as part of severance package from a company they have drained already and milk citizens of hard earned money.

Nnaji is God sent to sanitize the system but the thieves in the name of NUEE are hell bent on sending us back to the dark age. I hope govt continues with the privatization exercise and damn these thieves.

The Worst Mistake...

The worst mistake the FG will make on this matter will be to yeild to arm twisting and cheap blackmail of these PHCN rogues. You can't continue to do the same stupid things for years and expect a different result. The present structure of PHCN will never improve power supply in Nigeria. They are working for their stomach. PHCN, do you really believe you deserve the compensations you are demanding for? The Minister may have questions to answer too; but I think you guys should go first and then Nigerians can tackle the Minsiter and his reforms.

PHCN managers are the new millionaires

PHCN managers are the new millionaires in town, they are collecting money from residents and giving them uninterrupted electricity while others who didnt pay never get anything. GEJ and Berth, wake up. Come to sabon gari, kano, and find out for yourself. I posted this update on www.160bits.com... Follow me and find out more

YOU ARE A CRIMINAL THAT SHOULD BE IN JAIL

This guy is certainly one of he PHCN criminals who have kept nigerians in darkness for decades and should be arrested and put behind the bars. Why should he come out to insult our collective intelligence: kudos to Prof Nnaji and his team for standing strong against these forces of darkness to get the power sector to where it is today. All the PHCN staff who are making noise should be sacked as they are agents of generator sellers/conttractors. Govt should ban importation of generators as soon as possible to sustain the power improvement.

hypocrites

The president is expecting feedback on what we all know is
Normal.there's improve in power during raining season.
Let dem continue,one day,bush meat go catch d hunter.

Go away First.

Ajero and his people should go first. then let see what this thief "bart" will do. cos for me I love this thief. if I had my chance I'll Imprison all the nepa staffs especially those foot soldier ladder boy that carry borrowed ladder around the streets disconnecting wire that dose not supply even low current or television signal. Why have you not distributed card metre Ajero? These Guys think because they messed up Eduction, Nigerian can think again. Our leaders have forgot that the more you drink wine and live rubbish live, the dumber you become. Now we are all on the same level, you are as dumb as us. we are all dumb now. Laughs!

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