The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has advised the Federal Government to urgently take decisive steps against the alleged greed and incompetence in the power sector, or risk its collapse under its present leadership.

President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who, in a statement yesterday, raised concerns over the too many grid collapses under the leadership of the current minister, Adebayo Adelabu, expressed dissatisfaction with his failure to address the “embarrassing” frequency, a situation the Congress noted had never been witnessed in the past.

The NLC president regretted that the minister was more concerned about the allocation of about N8 billion in the 2025 federal budget for the “sensitisation of Nigerians on the need to pay electricity bills,”

Congress urged the National Assembly should throw the allocation out of the budget with a vow to mobilise against any attempt to use the budget to further waste resources that could be used to reduce the sufferings on Nigerians. The text read:

“The Power sector in Nigeria is at the brink of collapse as the helmsmen have repeatedly shown gross incompetence.

It is a sector where the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), despite the enormous power invested on it by the Electricity act of 2023, has continuously demonstrated incapacity to regulate or outright refused to discharge its responsibilities to electricity consumers in Nigeria, while the minister in charge is enamored with seeking about N8 to teach Nigerians how to pay electricity bill.

It is, therefore, not surprising that power grid collapse is now a constant as it has continued to succumb to greed and crass incompetence.

“Whereas the minister seeks N8 billion to educate us, while contractors in the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) who help in delivering capacity are owed over N200 billion.

If not for the intervention of the unions in the sector in December, 2024, the procurement committee would have added to this burden by sitting down to award more contracts.