NLC, Electricity Workers' Union Fire Back At Ex-PHCN Manager Over Claims Ajaero Betrayed 47,000 Workers
The unions also accused Igolo, who served in PHCN management, of attempting to rewrite history by presenting himself as a defender of workers despite allegedly never belonging to a union throughout his career.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have defended the President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, rejecting allegations that he betrayed more than 47,000 former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers during the privatisation of Nigeria's electricity sector.
The labour organisations were reacting to an earlier SaharaReporters report in which a former Public Affairs Manager of the defunct PHCN, Chijioke Igolo, accused Ajaero of collaborating with government officials to deny former electricity workers billions of naira in outstanding entitlements following the 2013 privatisation of the power sector.
In separate statements issued on Friday, the NLC and NUEE described the allegations as false, malicious and politically motivated, insisting that Ajaero was one of the strongest opponents of the power sector privatisation and had consistently fought for workers' welfare before, during and after the exercise.
The unions also accused Igolo, who served in PHCN management, of attempting to rewrite history by presenting himself as a defender of workers despite allegedly never belonging to a union throughout his career.
SaharaReporters had reported that Igolo, in an open letter addressed to Ajaero, alleged that the labour leader abandoned the interests of former PHCN employees by declaring that the Federal Government no longer owed them outstanding benefits.
According to Igolo, the government remained indebted to former PHCN workers over 16 months' salary arrears, a 10 per cent equity entitlement, the Federal Government's 7.5 per cent pension contribution and other financial benefits.
He further alleged that Ajaero collaborated with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to frustrate the payment of those entitlements and claimed that more than ₦400 billion belonging to former electricity workers had been diverted over the years.
Igolo also questioned the fate of investments allegedly owned by former PHCN workers, including hotels and estates.
However, when contacted by SaharaReporters before publication, Ajaero denied the allegations, insisting that former PHCN workers received severance benefits amounting to more than 300 per cent of what was stipulated in their conditions of service.
He challenged Igolo to produce evidence of any unpaid salary arrears and maintained that the Bureau of Public Enterprises, not labour unions, was responsible for paying disengaged workers.
Responding to the report, the NLC described the allegations as "a sponsored publication" designed to discredit Ajaero and the organised labour movement.
"We would have chosen to ignore this obvious hatchet job which was an obvious assignment from known enemies of Nigerian workers and their heroic leaders," it said.
"However, we consider this a welcome opportunity to once again expose the irresponsibility of our oppressors and their lackeys, and to demonstrate the lengths to which they will go to demonise the champions of Nigerian workers in pursuit of their clear but hidden agenda."
The NUEE issued a similar statement, saying the publication was intended to weaken organised labour and undermine leaders who opposed the privatisation of the electricity sector.
'Ajaero Fought Privatisation From The Beginning'
The unions insisted that Ajaero was among the fiercest critics of the Jonathan administration's decision to privatise the power sector and warned at the time that the policy would fail.
According to the NLC, history has vindicated that position.
"Let it be recorded for history that Comrade Joe Ajaero, as General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), led the most fierce and principled opposition to the privatisation of the power sector under former President Goodluck Jonathan," the statement said.
"He warned, and history has vindicated him, that the privatisation exercise was a 'grand deception'; a fraudulent transfer of public wealth to investors who lacked both technical capacity and financial strength."
The unions argued that more than a decade after privatisation, electricity generation remains largely unchanged while Nigerians continue to endure high tariffs, frequent national grid collapses and poor electricity supply.
"As the NLC President has consistently argued, over a decade after privatisation, generation remains at the same 4,000 to 5,000 megawatts recorded before the exercise, while Nigerians suffer frequent grid collapses and soaring tariffs."
According to the labour organisations, the privatisation was never designed to improve electricity supply but rather to transfer public assets into private hands.
Labour Process Misrepresented
The NLC also faulted Igolo's understanding of how negotiations during the privatisation were conducted.
According to the Congress, three unions, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) and the electricity sector of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), jointly negotiated workers' exit packages.
The statement stressed that Ajaero served as General Secretary of NUEE rather than president of any of the negotiating unions.
"The publication betrays a fundamental ignorance of labour processes.
The writer, perhaps deliberately, failed to recognise that three unions negotiated for the workers, and that the heads of these unions are their Presidents. "Comrade Ajaero was and remains the General Secretary of NUEE... The Presidents of those unions led the negotiations, the outcomes of which yielded the best benefits for workers in any privatisation exercise."
Equity Shares, Salary Arrears
Addressing one of Igolo's central allegations, the unions denied claims that labour leaders diverted workers' 10 per cent equity entitlement.
According to the NLC, the equity arrangement emerged from collective bargaining but was never intended to be distributed free of charge.
"The 10 per cent equity share agreement was a product of collective bargaining. It was not agreed that it was going to be gifted for free to workers."
The NUEE added that the Bureau of Public Enterprises recently informed the union through its legal representatives that the matter had been referred to the Nigerian Stock Exchange process, through which eligible workers would purchase their allotted shares.
The unions also rejected allegations concerning the Federal Government's 7.5 per cent pension contribution.
According to NUEE, workers had not previously contributed under the Contributory Pension Scheme before privatisation, compelling the unions to negotiate a lump-sum government contribution to workers' Pension Fund Administrators.
"It is from this contribution that exited workers including this ignorant writer currently receives monthly pension," the union stated.
On the alleged 16 months' unpaid salaries, the unions acknowledged that the issue formed part of a 2012 agreement signed between government representatives and labour unions.
The agreement, they said, covered eight outstanding issues, including exit benefits, gratuities, death benefits, salary arrears, post-retirement training, equity shares and non-core assets.
They added that another agreement signed in 2019 reaffirmed those commitments.
However, according to the unions, implementation was frustrated by the Bureau of Public Enterprises and subsequent court actions.
"The unions have had to fight continuously, even threatening to shut down the national grid, to compel the government to honour its obligations."
The unions maintained that the BPE remains responsible for implementing those agreements and remains available to receive petitions from any aggrieved former worker.
₦400 Billion Allegation
The labour organisations also rejected claims that more than ₦400 billion belonging to former PHCN workers had been diverted.
According to them, the money cited by Igolo represented severance payments made to disengaged workers rather than funds controlled by union leaders.
"The BPE itself has disclosed that it spent about ₦409.9 billion on the payment of severance benefits to ex-workers and death benefits. The unions did not 'get' this money; it was paid to workers as their rightful entitlements, including this dishonest peddler."
The NLC challenged Igolo to disclose how much he personally received during the exercise and to provide documentary evidence supporting any outstanding claims.
"If he is so concerned about transparency, he should provide evidence of any unpaid salary arrears, even for one month, and allow verification with the BPE."
'Real Scandal'
Rather than blaming organised labour, the unions argued that attention should instead focus on government spending on the privatised electricity industry.
"What the former manager conveniently ignores is the real scandal—that the government has reportedly committed trillions of naira to support the privatised electricity sector entities far more than was ever spent on PHCN, while workers continue to suffer and Nigerians pay for darkness. This is the well-orchestrated robbery of the Nigerian people that the NLC has consistently exposed."
Motive Questioned
Both organisations questioned why Igolo waited more than a decade after the privatisation exercise before making the allegations.
"For 13 years, this former manager who had a disdain for workers and the unions has received and enjoyed his exit package. Only now, after more than a decade, does he suddenly 'discover' that workers are being owed?"
The NLC further alleged that Igolo never belonged to any trade union while serving in PHCN management.
"This is the same individual who, as a manager, refused to belong to any union and was reportedly an arrowhead in the fight against the union. Now he presents himself as a defender of workers. This is the height of hypocrisy."
The unions suggested that unnamed interests opposed to organised labour were sponsoring the allegations to discredit the NLC and its leadership.
"When a man who spent his career fighting unions suddenly becomes their defender after 13 years, ask not what changed; ask who paid him to change," the statement said.
The labour organisations reaffirmed their commitment to protecting workers' rights and vowed not to be distracted by what they described as politically motivated attacks.
"The enemies of workers fear the NLC and its leadership because they have consistently exposed the power sector privatisation as one of Nigeria's biggest scams, and they will stop at nothing to silence him," the NLC said.
It urged workers to remain united and continue supporting the labour movement.
"To every Nigerian worker, we say remain united. Do not allow these agents of capital and their shameless lackeys to sow confusion among us. The struggle for justice, fair treatment, and the restoration of electricity as a social service continues."
