Trade unions, stakeholders urges to stand firm against privatization on water
Kola Oyelere Kano
Comrade Lawrence Ilesanmi Alo, acting general secretary-,amalgamated union of public corporation,civil service technical and recreationtal service employee ,has urged trade unions and other stakeholders to stand firm on any attempt by the governments to privatize
water said-, it is a social service that supposed to be subsidized by the government
He howeve added that the government is running away from it’s responsibility,by trying to involve private sector to take up the production and distribution of water,which will further added economic burden to the hardship the people of the country were passing through
He empharsised that these
private sectors, because they were commercially oriented and interest oriented, they will not give quality water, to people and the treatment will not all that be good ”
He made this known,while speaking with press at a program organised by the Public Service International( PSI) on the theme ” Promoting Transparency and Decent Work in Supply Chains in electricity in sub- Sahara Africa ” held at R and K palace in Kano
According to him” By the time such a private sector taken over selling water,they may not pump out well treated water adding such untreated water can cause malaria , typhoid fever ,thereby given more problems to the government to confronted with as far as health sector is concerned
Commenting on borehole drilling,which people now resolted to in order to get water ,he noted that research, has shown that too much of drilling boreholesc to source for water can cause a serious threat to environment
Too much water borehole can made earth to collapses, and thusc can causes a lot of havoc in the environment
He therefore urged all the patriotics stakeholders not to allow any steps been taken by government on move on the privatization of water sees the light of the day
However, speaking at the occasion
Professor Hosea Mande of Kaduna State University,has called
for reversal of electricity privatization adding that since 2013 the sector has not added any significant value to the need of the people
He also called on Trade unions as well as stakeholders to unite and form a formidable force that will enable them fight against privatization of water sector,so as not drawn the country back to present epilepsy the country faced over the electricity privatization
“Within a period of time , from 2023 to date ,the country has nothing to show for going by a numbers of collapses in national grid to date” he said
Professor Mande said” ,we are today to demonstrate om “what’s are the impact felt from those certain sector, the service providing sectors of our own government,the water , electricity and waste sectors ”
“What are the development of those sectors,having taken over by certain organizations ,in term of privatization, have we seen the change, recording improvement or challenges in respect of those sectors,which are basic sector for the entire country
‘ These our common heritage, that Nigerians expected ,to have a benefit from adding that before 2023,there are series of privatization of those three sectors,in term of electricity, water and waste service sectors
Government has taken a lot of steps to see that they are privatized and from the research available,there are lots of challenges between the government and the trade unions’
According to him,” ,There are a lots of complaints from the trade unions that they are not carry along in decisions making when government intends to privatize those sectors,at least to listen to their views
Nigerians are worry ,for government to have given our own comnen inheritance to certain group of people and the Nigerians are not getting supply of power noting that these are challenging people are really worry about .
” From 2023, there are about five times collapsed,after the privatization, while in 2024, it was also discovered that there are three national grid collapsed and in 2025 ,it was equally discovered that up to six national grid collapsed are recorded
‘While in term of metering,, people are complaining, they have not gotten meters, as according to them, ,is from meter you will be able to know what you are consuming or what you are paying for” he said
He however noted that” The
government have the capacity,the ,resources, to run these three services sectors ,noting that if government should take ownership and own up to these sector, there will be proper control and maintenance as well as efficiency”
Speaking in the same vein,Comrade Ayuba Barde,the zonal organising secretary 1,north west , national union of electricity employee,said” There are a lot of negative impact on the country and the citizens as far as electricity privatization is concerned
” From inception noting that before the electricity privatization,we called on the attention of Nigerians,that this policy, government , is bringing on board is not good for Nigerians”
It was saddened and pathetic, as ”
” They ( people)called us different names ,castigated us that we have our ulterior motives of against privatization of electricity, but the reality was that we were looking at aftermaths,the long run effect this policy we have on Nigerians”
However,” Today , Nigerians can tell the story themselves ,what they have derived from electricity privatization,the light or the supply is no longer available as expected
People were paying through their nose,these inventors that came on board, were only interested on what they will take home,not keen in re- investing into the system adding that what we were looking at is that they did not buy the property”