TUC Kicks against Planned Privatisation of TCN, NIPOST, Federal Medical Centres

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has kicked against the move by the federal government to privatise the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the Nigerian Post and Telecommunications Services (NIPOST) and the Federal Medical Centres (FMCs).

It also kicked against what it described as last minute rush to privatise these entities, even as the current administration has few weeks left to depart.
Speaking on the outcome of the TUC National Executive Meeting held in Abuja on Friday, TUC President, Festus Osifoh, cautioned against disbursement of the sum of N8 billion to implement the transfer of management NIPOST assets to private concerns

In the same vein, the TUC leader expressed dismay over the arbitrary takeover of the management of road transport operations from its affiliate, the Road Transport Owners Association (RETAN) by some state governments in the country.
TUC President warned that Nigerian workers were opposed to the plan to sell the assets of the public-owned establishments especially at the twilight of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

He said the TUC was also against plans by the federal government to privatise NIPOST and to strip the entity of its assets, handing them over to private concerns.
Osifoh added: “As a follow up to our last NEC meeting that it is  no to privatisation of the FMCs, that for us it is something that we will not tolerate because most of the privatisation that have taken place in our dear country has been an exercise where friends of those in government were rewarded. So we say no to such privatisation.
“In similar breath, we say no to the privatisation of the TCN because if you have privatised the generation companies (GenCos), Distribution Companies  (DisCos) and today they are performing at the sub-optimal level, what is the rational to tell the Nigerian people that you are going to also privatise the TCN? So for us it is also not acceptable.”

Osifoh alleged that the Federal Ministry of Finance was planning to release N8 billion to completely pull NIPOST assets down and strip them of their relevance.
He also alleged that a major part of the N8 billion was to be given to private companies that would manage the assets.
“We wonder why is it that when government manages a particular establishment, the first thing that it does is to strip it of its assets? Who are they going to give these assets to? We have been wondering.
“We say no to this. It is fundamentally not correct because NIPOST is a national asset. You can go to different parts of the world and see how the national postage services are being managed.”

“We even learnt that recently, the Ministry of Finance released the sum of N8 billion to completely pull these assets down and strip it of its relevance. And part of this money is been given to the companies that will manage those assets and only a paltry sum of about N600 million is being given to the NIPOST.
“Why should we be engaging in this, in the twilight of the life of this administration? We hereby call on government not to disburse that money, but to keep it intact and let the next administration come and we will have deliberations with them. If they go ahead with this plan, they will have Nigerian workers to contend with,” he said.
Regarding the operations of the transport sector, especially as it relates to the case of Lagos state, the TUC urged the state government to immediately return the parks to RETAN.

TUC president said the union had observed that some states, especially those in the South West part of the country have been acting against the law by banning the activities of RETAN, that is an affiliate if the TUC.
He accused the states of bringing in some touts to start managing the affairs of road transport in their states.
Osifoh also said that there was a court ruling ordering that the Lagos state government should return the management of the Road Transport activities to RETAN, adding that, “TUC hereby enjoins the Lagos state government to immediately obey that Court judgement.”