Payment of the severance benefits of staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has started.
LEADERSHIP reliably gathered that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) commenced the payment since Thursday, August 1. However, the payments are being made in batches.
LEADERSHIP also learnt that, as at August 1, a total of 20,304 PHCN staff had been cleared for payment. A total of 3,938 staff of power generation companies (GENCOs) and PHCN Headquarters were paid the sum of N34.585 billion.
Also, another 16,366 staff of power distribution companies (DISCOs) have been cleared by the auditors and are ready for onward transmission to the OAGF for payment: the amount is N84.5 billion. On the whole, the federal government is to pay a total of N400 billion to the workers, retirees and pensioners of the PHCN.
However, all efforts to confirm from the PHCN staff union members whether they have received the payments proved abortive as they all chose to keep sealed lips. Their decision to keep silent on the issue, LEADERSHIP gathered, is borne out of fear of being robbed or kidnapped for ransom.
Members of the staff unions had earlier raised the alarm that they were being threatened by kidnappers and armed robbers.
The process of privatising the PHCN successor companies has reached a crucial stage with the federal government on the verge of finally relinquishing the companies to their core investors. But opposition from electricity workers’ union had posed a major stumbling block.
With the payment under way, it is hoped that the last of the issues with labour will be resolved and this would pave way for progress to be made regarding payment of outstanding 75 per cent balance for power companies by their core investors.
The director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Benjamin Dikki, last week confirmed that most the core investors were reluctant to make full commitment if the issues with labour and particularly staff payoff were not trashed out.
“Many of the core investors had actually indicated interest to pay the 75 per cent before the deadline because they wanted to take over the companies before the September deadline for payment. But they insisted that the labour issues must be fully resolved first before they make the payment. We have virtually resolved all the issues with labour. It is now the question of commencement of payment and I want to assure you that before the end of this week or early next week workers of PHCN will begin to receive alerts,” Dikki said last week.
Attempts to privatise Nigeria’s power sector date to the development of the National Electric Power Policy, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2000. The policy called for fundamental changes to the ownership, control and regulation of the power sector. However, following numerous delays, it was not until 2005 that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR) enshrined these policies.
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