The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and power generation companies (GENCOS) are at odds over a disputed ₦6 trillion payment claim and a proposed ₦3 trillion government bailout, deepening tensions in the country’s struggling electricity sector.
The Association of Power Generation Companies warned that unpaid debts owed to its members could threaten electricity supply, while the country’s biggest labour union rejected the claims, accusing the companies of trying to loot the treasury.
The standoff comes amid ongoing challenges in Nigeria’s privatised power market, where chronic funding gaps and infrastructure weaknesses have left electricity supply unreliable to a population of over 200 million.
In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, the NLC said it stood by its earlier criticism of GENCOs and accused the operators of mismanaging assets acquired during the 2013 power sector privatisation.
“Our attention has been drawn to a press release issued by the Association of Power Generation Companies, in which the APGC, in a fit of grandstanding, accused the Nigeria Labour Congress of lacking competence to understand the power sector,” the statement read.
“We reject their self-serving narrative entirely. The privatisation of the power sector was, and remains, a grand deception and a well-orchestrated robbery of the Nigerian people”, the statement read.
Debt claims and bailout controversy
The generating companies claim that they are owed about ₦6 trillion in unpaid invoices for electricity generated and supplied to the national grid over the years. The operators had earlier warned that without urgent intervention, the debt burden could cripple generation capacity and trigger a nationwide power crisis.
They also reportedly pushed for government support, with discussions around a possible ₦3 trillion bailout package to stabilise the struggling sector, which still generates below 6,000 megawatts of electricity.
But the country’s biggest labour is strongly opposing any bailout plan, arguing that it would amount to rewarding failure. The union questioned the logic of providing trillions of naira to companies that acquired the nation’s power assets for a fraction of the amount now being demanded.
“The entire power sector assets were sold for about N400bn.
“Yet we are now told that the Federal Government is contemplating a bailout of N3tn for the same GENCOs who have failed to generate additional megawatts above pre-privatisation capacity,” the NLC said.
It added that such a move would amount to transferring public wealth into private hands.
“This is not economics; this is plunder,” the union stated.
GENCO’s earlier response
The latest NLC statement was issued in response to an earlier press release by GENCOs, which had accused the labour union of making misleading and inflammatory allegations about the sector.
The power companies had denied claims that they were extorting the government and warned that continued financial distress could force plants to shut down.
They said their operations were being crippled by persistent liquidity shortfalls in the electricity market, including unpaid invoices and foreign exchange constraints affecting gas supply and equipment maintenance.
According to the GENCOs, the debts accumulated due to tariff shortfalls and government-regulated pricing structures prevent full cost recovery.
The PUNCH