NLC faults N8b budget for electricity bill awareness drive

• Threatens to mobilise protest against plan
• Says proposal epitomises profligacy, corruption

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has faulted the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu’s proposal for the allocation of N8 billion, to sensitise Nigerians on the importance of paying electricity bills.

Expressing disappointment and outrage, the NLC said the “ludicrous” proposal epitomised the depth of profligacy, wastefulness and corruption that had permeated governance in Nigeria.

In a statement yesterday, titled ‘Before the Power Sector Collapses: N8 Billion Budget for Electricity Bill Sensitisation is a Shameful Testament to Incompetence and Wastefulness’, the congress lamented that the proposal came at a time when millions of Nigerians were grappling with crushing poverty, runaway inflation and unbearable weight of a failing economy.

NLC President, Joe Ajaero, described the quest as both insulting and tragic that Nigerian leaders found it appropriate to spend public funds on such frivolities.

While calling on the National Assembly to rise to its constitutional duty by removing the allocation from the budget, Ajaero said the NLC would not stand idly by while public funds were squandered in the name of governance.

He urged President Bola Tinubu to take steps to rein in officials in the power ministry and National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to reinvigorate the sector and save it from total collapse, stressing that unless the perceived incompetence, wastefulness and corruption in the ministry and NERC were addressed urgently, the nation’s power sector might collapse completely.

He pointed out that the allocation was a glaring reminder of why Nigeria remained in its current state of economic stagnation and why corruption continued to thrive unchecked.

He warned that failure to address the issue would further erode public confidence in government institutions and exacerbate the already dire socio-economic conditions facing millions of Nigerians.

The NLC chief said the congress would continue to monitor developments and would not hesitate to mobilise against any attempt to use the budget process as a vehicle for waste and corruption

He equally demanded a comprehensive audit of the entire power sector budget and others to unearth other potential avenues for corruption and financial recklessness.

He stated that the legislature must ensure that the national budget would not become a conduit for looting the nation’s collective resources and legalising the theft of public funds under the guise of governance.

Ajaero said it was laughable to believe that what was important to Nigerians, especially as it concerns the power sector now, was to be sensitised on why they should pay more for electricity amid constant grid failure and overwhelming darkness.

This, according to him, is annoying and speaks to the depth of crass contempt and disdain with which some individuals occupying the nation’s corridors of power hold the citizens.