Public Services International (PSI) has said that providing quality public services like healthcare, water, and energy should be at the core of the Nigerian government’s energy transition.
The Global Workers Organisation said climate change should not be an excuse for the government to privatise the public sector. It added that climate change financing should be used to strengthen public institutions and public service delivery rather than facilitate private investment in public services.
“We have to strengthen the public healthcare system to ensure that we deal with the impact of climate change,” Sandra Van Niekerk, PSI Project Coordinator for Climate Change, said at a 2-day capacity building for its affiliates in Abuja.
The workshop, supported by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV Mondiaal), aims to build unions’ capacity to understand and engage the government in Just Transition discussions in Nigeria’s electricity and health sectors.
Sandra explained, “We are discussing how climate change already impacts people—with floods, drought, and displaced people, and all those consequences. People can better deal with the consequences of the vital public services delivered to them.
“If there’s flooding of an area, obviously there will be people that will be displaced. But they can return to their homes if they know that the public sector can lay back the water pipes and reconnect electricity so that people can continue their lives.
“So, the stronger, or the more public services are in place and accessible for people, the more people can deal with the consequences of climate change, and the stronger people can withstand those consequences.”
She said, “It’s important that the government is delivering those public services because we know that when the private sector delivers basic services, they do it on a profit basis. And so poor, vulnerable people who don’t have money, who can’t afford those services, they’re at the most risk of climate change. So, if you want to strengthen people’s ability to withstand climate change, you have to have public services that the government delivers, and they are being delivered as a public good, not as a commercial good. And that will strengthen people’s ability to withstand climate change.”
Also speaking, Luis Monje, PSI UD officer, said privatising public services would increase the inequality gap and lead to more poverty, noting that, on the other hand, access to quality public services is a way to redistribute wealth.
Speaking further on the campaign for Just Transition in the energy sector, he said, “As we transition to cleaner energy, in some industries, unfortunately, many workers are likely to lose their jobs. So, during the Just transition process, we must ensure that those workers do not suffer and are provided with transition plans to make their lives easier.
PSI, which has been a leading global voice for quality public services, says its message on just transition is clear: No justice transition is possible without quality public services and decent jobs
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