The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has expressed concern over rising violence against its members, hazardous working conditions, and financial difficulties encountered in the line of duty.

The union warns that without urgent reforms, both the workforce and the nation’s fragile power system could face further decline.

NUEE’s acting General Secretary, Dominic Igwebike, in a statement, said while they work under very unsafe environment and circumstances, its linemen and technicians in the transmission sector are threatened daily by kidnappers and bandits.

He said its distribution engineers and technicians are beaten up daily by hoodlums and community boys, while its sales and marketing teams face the worst harassment, intimidation, and abuse while rendering service to the public.

According to him, the country’s electricity infrastructure has become a target for vandalism and attacks, leaving technical staff vulnerable while on duty.

The NUEE boss maintained that worsening insecurity, deepening poverty and a collapsing power sector are pushing workers in the sector to the brink.

With increasing insecurity, he said that substations are damaged, transmission lines are sabotaged, and entire communities are plunged into darkness, compounding the already dire state of the power supply.

Arguing that privatisation has failed to deliver meaningful improvements, Igwebike claimed the system has produced
“public disaster and private gains,” with ordinary Nigerians still suffering from unreliable and inadequate electricity supply.

He said, with Nigeria’s power generation remaining below 5,000 megawatts, which is far below global benchmarks for feeding a vast population of over 220 million people, shortfalls continue to strain the system, affecting productivity and placing enormous pressure on workers tasked with maintaining and distributing power nationwide.

Yet, amid the crisis, he said electricity workers have remained resilient.

However, he insisted that resilience should not be mistaken for acceptance, thereby calling on the Federal Government to take urgent action to address insecurity, improve working conditions, ensure fair wages, and overhaul the failing nation’s power sector.