The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has expressed its misgivings over the proposed privatization of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), noting that the plan is bound to fail.
Festus Osifo, TUC President who disclosed this in a press conference on Tuesday said the bane of privatization in Nigeria is that the government sells businesses to its cronies that lack managerial skills.
“Government should not shy away from its responsibility. Instead of the government finding a way to manage the issue, they want to push the burden down the road”, he said.
According to him, the proposed privatization of TCN by the government is for us. They don’t privatize and are the best. The government does the privatization and sells to their friends and cronies who don’t have any idea about managing such business and that has been the bane of our privatization in the country.
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Osifo also attributed this to why power generation and distribution companies do not function optimally. “The privatization of Discos and Gencos has practically failed and the government needs to get it right with them.
In another development, The TUC said it would come up with a blueprint that will be submitted to the government and the Ministry of Labour on how to tackle casualization.
Comrade Osifo maintained that the issue cannot be eradicated 100 percent but can be reduced to the barest minimum.
“Our target is to work as an affiliate and come up with a strategic roadmap on how to address the issue of casualization. Across the various sectors, the issue differs so we are going to take it sectorally to address it.
TUC position has not been casualized and it is our responsibility to come up with a workable roadmap for tackling it. The goal will be to reduce casual workers in various sectors in Nigeria. Nigerians are being enslaved and it is applicable in all sectors including the media organizations.