By Ayo Kehinde
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has blamed Nigeria’s persistent electricity shortages on what it described as the failure of the country’s privatised power sector, calling on the Federal Government to urgently review the entire process.
Acting General-Secretary of NUEE, Dominic Igwebike, stated this while speaking in an interview with Leadership, where he dismissed claims that the current power supply crisis was linked to global geopolitical tensions.
Igwebike said Nigeria has continued to experience erratic electricity supply despite repeated tariff increases and reforms introduced after the privatisation of the power sector between 2012 and 2013.
According to him, the expectation that private investors would significantly improve power generation, transmission, and distribution has not been realised more than a decade after the handover of the sector to private operators.
“The current epileptic supply shows that the private sector has failed. Since the privatisation in 2012 and 2013, there have been no additional megawatt and there has been no improvement in the sector,” he said.
The labour leader maintained that the challenges confronting Nigeria’s electricity supply were largely domestic and not connected to developments in the global energy market or geopolitical tensions such as the Iran–U.S. conflict.
“It is not just because of the Iran-U.S. war that is causing the epileptic supply of power. There have been tariff increases, but what has been done earlier to improve the sector? There has been no foreign direct investment and the generation network is poor,” he said.
Igwebike also criticised the state of the national grid, noting that the system continues to suffer operational difficulties that frequently disrupt electricity supply across the country.
“The grid system is not working. That is the truth. The system is not working and there is no clear government plan, whether mid-term, long-term, or short-term, to address the challenges,” he added.
He further faulted the frequent upward review of electricity tariffs without corresponding improvements in service delivery, stressing that Nigerians are paying more for electricity despite enduring persistent outages.
Igwebike emphasised that stable and affordable electricity remains essential for economic growth and industrial development, warning that no country can achieve meaningful progress without reliable power supply.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to adopt a comprehensive energy strategy that would include greater investment in electricity infrastructure and the development of renewable energy sources to meet the country’s growing demand for power.
“The only solution now is to go back and review the whole process of privatisation because the system has failed. There are no countries that develop without electricity,” he said.
