Nigerians deserve truth about electricity, not propaganda, labour slams power minister

The Organised Labour has urged Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, to stop what they view as “propaganda and statistical gymnastics.”

The labour movement in a message on Wednesday expressed the deep frustration of Nigerians over what they called misleading narratives surrounding the power sector.

According to them, citizens are no longer interested in polished figures or empty reassurances that do not reflect the harsh reality of epileptic electricity supply and rising energy costs.

They further criticized the Minister for “insulting the intelligence of the people with fabrications and false hope,” insisting that Nigerians deserve honesty and tangible improvements, not more excuses.

In a statement issued by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, while reacting to the claim by the Minister that 150 million Nigerians now enjoy “adequate electricity” with 5,500MW, Labour told Adelabu that what is needed is light and not lies.

The statement read: “The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) strongly condemns the outrageous statement credited to the Honourable Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, claiming that 150 million Nigerians now enjoy “adequate electricity” with 5,500MW.

“This wild assertion is not only pretentious, it is a bad joke on a people daily confronted by grinding darkness, outrageous electricity tariffs, and a power sector manipulated for private profit at the expense of national progress. Perhaps, the Minister wants to perform Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5,000 persons with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes.

“For the Minister to suggest that over 150 million Nigerians have access to reliable power in a country that struggles to generate a meager and inconsistent 5,000 megawatts—far below the global benchmark of 1,000MW per one million people—is to insult the intelligence and lived realities of Nigerians.

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“By that standard, Nigeria should be generating no less than 150,000MW to justify such a claim. Yet, even on its best day, the country’s electricity generation has never exceeded 5,500MW—and that figure remains unstable and unreliable.

“We want to ask; Is Nigeria’s standard different from world standard? Where are the power plants that make this level of supply possible? Where is the upgraded transmission infrastructure to support such output? Why are our homes still shrouded in darkness and our factories shutting down daily?

“This is not how performance is measured but could be likened to a joke carried too far. The truth is that millions of Nigerians, from urban slums to rural communities, continue to live without access to electricity. The few who have access do so under constant threat of disconnection, blackouts, and financial exploitation through a complex pyramid of inflated tariffs and arbitrary billing.

“The crisis we face today is the direct result of the grand betrayal that was the 2013 power sector privatization—an exercise that handed over the nation’s critical infrastructure to cronies for just N400 billion. Over a decade later, there has been no improvement in service delivery. Yet, these same GenCos and DISCOs, which have failed the nation woefully are to receive over N4 trillion in public subsidies with zero accountability.

“It is disheartening that after over 12 years of privatization; the power sector has not experienced any significant capacity expansion. No substantial infrastructure renewal despite trillions spent.

“Unfortunately, and predictably too, there has been no sanction for incompetent DISCOs and GenCos as outlined in the Privatization agreement because the buyers seem to be the same as the sellers.

“Rather than fix the rot, this government now plans to sell off the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)—the last publicly owned component of the power value chain. This move is not reform; it is economic ruse dressed in bureaucratic doublespeak.

“It is an attempt to swallow the remaining power asset by the ruling elite at the detriment of the suffering Nigerian masses. We are worried that the already hijacked entities in the name of privatization have grossly underperformed and you want to go the same route with the remaining one – the outcome of course will not be different.

“The recent electricity tariff hike, masked under the so-called “Band A, B, and C” classification, is nothing but a sophisticated scheme to legalize exploitation. While DISCOs have raked in over N700 billion from helpless consumers, power supply remains epileptic, erratic, and inaccessible to the majority.

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“Millions of Nigerians are now forced to choose between food and electricity bills. It is apparent that those who preside over the helms of affairs have either lost their sense of humanity or do not entirely care about the consequences of their actions on the masses who are undergoing the most severe hardship in our history as a nation.

“Meanwhile, workers in the power sector, who continue to hold the crumbling system together, remain poorly paid and grossly undervalued, while top NERC officials and private sector profiteers enrich themselves in a festival of regulatory impunity. This is most unacceptable and all patriots must speak up against this apparent insensitivity and grandstanding in the name of governance.

“What is going on presently is clearly not a reform but an organized profiteering.

“Our final Word to the Minister of Power; Nigerians are tired of propaganda and statistical gymnastics. Cease from insulting the intelligence of the people with fabrications and false hope.

“Nigerians deserve more respect. If you generate, transmit and distribute more power, we will see it in our homes and factories; not on the pages of newspaper and on television.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress will not fold its arms while Nigerians are exploited by economic fat cats. We are prepared to deploy all democratic and lawful means to continue to expose and resist all grand deception targeted at the Nigerian masses. We will continue in our quest to restore equity and reclaim the power sector for the Nigerian people.

“Let there be light—not lies.”

Nigerians deserve truth about electricity, not propaganda, labour slams power minister