THE Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has faulted the power sector roadmap recently unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan, saying rather than develop the troubled sector, "the planned privatization of the sector would only serve the interest of some hawks in the private sector that are bent on hiking electricity tariff in the country."

President of the Union, comrade Mansur Musa, who spoke with Daily Trust on the roadmap said the federal government should concern itself with building the power sector rather than pursuing the privatization agenda which he said was not in the interest of the power sector.

"The federal government should go after the non performing NIPP contractors and compel them to complete the projects for which billions of Naira was allocated. They should also think of completing the Zungeru and Mambilla hydro power projects as well as constructing the 75kv line extra high voltage to boost electricity in the country," Musa said.

Describing the proposed privatization of the power sector as contained in the presidential roadmap on power as a huge joke that would be resisted by the electricity workers, the NUEE president said similar attempts to privatize other agencies in the country such as NITEL and Transcorp had yielded no fruitful results.

"We are not comfortable with the power roadmap recently unveiled by the president, especially as it concerns the privatization of the power sector. It would not serve Nigerians any good when the power sector is handed over to some hawks in the private sector to pursue their personal interest. We would not accept it."

Last week Thursday, President Goodluck Jonathan unveiled his strategy to end enduring power shortages in the country, saying that government would completely hands off the sector to private operators.