ABUJA — THE Federal Government has ordered the retrenchment of no fewer
than 20,000 workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, ahead
of takeover by successful bidders of its assets.
Vanguard
gathered that the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, issued the
directive to the Chief Executive Officers, CEOs, of the 18 successor
companies to PHCN at a meeting in Abuja, to compile names and
drastically reduce the 50,000 strong workforce before the new investors
take over.
It was gathered that new investors demanded that the workforce must be pruned before government hands off.
Labour kicks, warns on danger of action
Though
it is not clear how government arrived at this figure, however, General
Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, Mr Joe
Ajaero, who confirmed the directive to massively retrench the workforce,
said it was obvious that the Federal Government had decided to truncate
the implementation of the collective agreement reached with the unions.
Already,
organised labour had kicked against the move and warned the government
against such action even as the agreement reached between both parties
in December 2012 on the terminal benefits of workers had not been
implemented.
The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and
Allied Companies, SSAEAC, has petitioned the government through the
Federal Ministry of Labour to explain the dangers and futility of
government action when agreement on terminal benefits had not been
honoured by the government.
On its part, NUEE directed members to
shut down the power sector once any worker is issued a retrenchment
letter without a financial back up in line with the December 2012
agreement.
NUEE, in a statement by Ajaero, rejected the planned
retrenchment of workers without honouring the agreement the government
entered into with the workers.
According to NUEE, “our attention
has been drawn to the nocturnal meetings being held between Federal
Government and all chief executive officers in Power Holding Company of
Nigeria, PHCN, where a mandate to retrench workers in the power sector
has been handed down to them. It is rather unfortunate and provoking
that the Federal Government is hatching such obnoxious idea when
agreement reached with the unions on payment of severance benefit is yet
to be implemented.
“Information reaching us reveals that
arrangement to close down PHCN’s Corporate Headquarters has been put in
place. While people are still working, government plans to kill their
management.
“It was equally gathered that the Federal Government
has concluded plans not to pay pension or transfer money to the Pension
Fund Administrators, PFAs, all in the name of driving workers to their
early graves. We are worried that the government could be privatizing
without cash backing, as information at our disposal suggests that about
N43 billion is available out of the over N400 billion agreed with the
unions.
“At the moment, agreement on certain indices to be used
in calculating entitlements like life expectancy which the Federal
Government put at 14 years is yet to be reconciled.
“By this
posture, it is obvious that the Federal Government has decided to
truncate the implementation of collective agreement reached with the
unions. Nigerians should, therefore, hold government responsible for any
reaction this action may generate.
“While there is still
opportunity for the Federal Government to follow due process, we wish to
state unequivocally that PHCN workers will legitimately resist every
attempt to shave their hair in their absence. Should the Federal
Government make good its threat to retrench workers in the sector when
labour issues have not been settled, all members are advised to stop
work, while those monies paid into their accounts should be seen as free
money. The hour has come for you to defend your rights.”
FG set to pay off workers —Igali
Meanwhile,
the Federal Government has said it is now set to pay off the staff of
PHCN. The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Ambassador
Godknows Igali disclosed this, weekend.
Igali told journalists in
Abuja that the fund for the payment of the workers’ severance package
was ready and that in a matter of weeks, they would be paid as part of
the process of the takeover of the sector by private investors.
His
words: ”What we have done so far is to try to ensure that the
entitlement of these people and their severance package is well
calculated from the point of their engagement to the point where the
government is bringing the private people to take over.
“We have
agreed on virtually everything. Government is preparing towards the
formal takeover by the private sector. We expect the process to be
seamless. So far, there is no major problem; the fund required to pay
the people is available.”
…assures workers
The Permanent
Secretary expressed satisfaction at the resolution of the issues
surrounding the disengagement with the PHCN staff as well as casual
workers and assured that the Federal Government was working to ensure
that they were all happily disengaged.
According to him, the new
owners would certainly re-engage many of the workers as it would be
practically impossible to operate without the old staff. He said the
private sector operators would be made to adhere to the nation’s labour
laws.
His words: “The people that are working in these power
plants are Nigerians, and when the private people take over, they are
not going to bring workers from Jupiter, Mercury or China; most of their
workers would remain Nigerians.
“The only difference is that
they have been government workers up till now and as the government
finishes with them, they will transfer their services to private
operators who are driving the sector now. But the private sector will
still follow the Labour law of this country.
“So, it is not a
situation of whether there is going to be mass exodus of people out of
the sector. Most of these workers have been very competent; they have
been serving the country very well with commitment. And you cannot just
replace those who have been on the job for many years.”
Training and retraining of workers
For
those who would not be re-employed by the new owners and those who may
choose to go into private business, Igali said: “Government also has a
very robust programme to train and retrain the workers of most of these
companies. Retraining them is at two levels: first is to retrain people
in such a way that they can fit into a new nature of the sector. Before
it was public service but now, we have private people taking over.
“So
we are retraining them so that those who will continue working on
contract basis will fit into the system properly. The second training is
directed at those who would opt for private life. A lot of people may
want to go into consultancy; like I said, the private people coming in
cannot go out of the country to import thousands upon thousands of
workers to take over our electricity sector. They will still need these
same people.
“Government from the highest political authority has
assured people of their commitment to ensure that all parties are
satisfied with the way the issues are resolved.”
He added that
the power reform transaction signing summit presided over by President
Goodluck Jonathan, last Monday, was an eloquent demonstration of
highest commitment by the government to ensure a successful conclusion
of the power transaction.
The Perm Sec said $600 million (about
N94 billion) was realised from the 25 per cent initial payments by the
investors in the power sector and that they were equally determined to
make the transactions successful with some even ready to make 100 per
cent payment of their bid prices ahead of the 90-day stipulated payment
period.
He said: “Some are ready to pay 100 per cent but 25 per
cent was what was required at this stage and the total amount from the
information we have from BPE is about $600m.”
Igali said power
generation had risen to over 4,500 and that the Federal government’s
target of 9-10,000 at the end of the year was still intact.
He claimed that some major cities of the nation now enjoy about 16 hours of electricity daily.
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