Work resumes at PHCN offices as workers insist on payment of entitlement

FG insists it has paid severance benefits of nearly all PHCN workers.
After staging a day of protest on Monday, work has resumed at the offices of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.

The workers had protested the handing over of the power plants without settling their severance packages and other entitlements.

At the PHCN offices at Festac Town and Marina, in Lagos, workers were seen attending to customers.

A staff at the Marina office told GOTO INFO that they are "working with faith" that their entitlements would be paid before the investors take over.

"If government does not pay us all our outstanding monies, it would be like the case of someone who had gone to the stream with a basket to fetch water," said the staff, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"We don't want what happened to NPA (Nigerian Ports Authority) and NITEL (Nigeria Telecommunications Limited) to happen to us. What would we tell our children?"
 
 Discordant tunes
The federal government says it had paid the severance benefits of nearly all the PHCN workers.

"As of today, we have paid off the benefits of at least 70 percent of the workers," Chinedu Nebo, the Minister of Power, had said during a seminar organized by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, last August.

"And as we finish the severance payment this week or next week, the next part will be the pension for the workers."

However, in an 18 September circular to members of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, seen by us, the union said 45 percent of the total workforce had received their gratuity.

"It has become obvious, the clandestine moves of the government to handover, on paper, PHCN facilities to investors without conclusively resolving the Labour and Labour related issues," said the circular signed by Joe Ajaero, NUEE's General Secretary.

"It would therefore be suicidal on our part if we allow the investors access to any part of our facilities while the issues remain inconclusively resolved by the government as they appear to be reneging.

"Please note that about 45 percent of the total workforce have received their gratuity while no staff has his/her pension credited to any Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) of choice, among other issues," the circular added.
The workers say their economic well being and future would be threatened if the private investors come in without their complaints addressed.
 
 Subtle threat

Also among the workers' grievances include the non-remittance of two per cent of the union deductions as agreed; non-payment of retirees who disengaged since 2011; non-regularisation of already identified casual workers; and 10 per cent equity shareholding by the workers.

"The shortfall of terminal benefits from June 2012 till date has not been considered for payment," the circular continued. "Therefore, no investor(s) should be allowed into any of PHCN formation by any guise unless the above Labour issues are conclusively resolved."

Another circular by the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies to its members insisted that all the Labour issues would be "cleaned up" before a successful sale and transfer of PHCN facilities.

"Much as we appreciate that government agreed to pay and had started to pay, hitherto, government had not paid 70 percent of the entire staff as claimed by the Honourable Minister of Power," said the circular dated September 17 and jointly signed by B.I. Opara and A. Ogunsegha, President General and General Secretary respectively.

"Money had not reached the hands of more than 50 percent of the staff as at today," the circular added.

The union further accused banks of "ware-housing" their money and thereby delaying their payment.

"We urge government to expedite action on the payments as we shall not be held responsible for any action to be taken to ensure full compliance with the agreement and understandings reached with government on the matter," the circular noted.

On Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan handed over certificates and licences to buyers of the successor companies of the PHCN, signalling government's disengagement from the management of the plants.

While the handover was going on, the electricity workers staged protests across the nation over non-payment of their terminal benefits before handing over to the new investors.

But on Wednesday, the federal government pushed further the goal post for completion of the outstanding entitlements of the workers.

The Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Beks Dagogo-Jack, said all the PHCN workers would be paid by December.

"We have an agreement with the PHCN workers unions and we have almost completed the payment, but they will all be settled before January 1, 2014 deadline," said Mr. Dagogo-Jack.