FG explains delay in payment of disengaged staff of PHCN

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Power, Godknows Igali, yesterday, explained
that the delay in payment of the entitlements
of disengaged staff of the Power Holding
Company of Nigeria, PHCN, was to ensure that
no mistakes were made. In an interview with newsmen after a meeting
with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the
Presidential Villa, Igali said the delay not
withstanding, remarkable progress has been
achieved in the privatisation of the disbundled
PHCN. According to him, all issues relating to labour
and others would be resolved before the
handover and takeover, adding that “There is
progress in the handing over of the 10
distribution companies and four generating
companies, we are in the last stages. A formal ceremony will take place to hand over the
documents to the new owners.



PHCN workers protest

“There will be no physical handover until the
end of this year. We are starting with handing
over of the documents, the protocol ceremony
for Mr. President to preside over after which,
we have one month to undertake cropping
issues, for example labour. “We are making very good progress to ensure
that all workers are paid. When you are dealing
with paying accounts of workers, about 40,000
people, you have to be careful because it is not
something you rush into. “So, we think that when the hand over of the
documents is done, we still have another one
month to ensure that we look into claims and
so on before the final physical take off.” Igali said the meeting with Sambo was a
periodic review of progress on work on the
power plants and the need to deal with issues
pertaining to ensuring that when the project
eventually comes on stream, there would be
supply of gas. He said the implementation of the present
administration’s power masterplan was
encouraging, adding that Nigerians should be
optimistic. “All things are going on very well. Let’s be
optimistic. The other sectors that the private
sector took over, there is an exponential
change in the sector. We saw it in
telecommunication. You all were here when it
takes a day before you make a call before private sector took over. But today, Nigerians
have access to telephones. “In the banking sector, when you go to banks,
you queue up for almost a whole day taking a
tally to wait. Today, you can stay in your office
and perform your banking transactions
because the private sector took over. “In the power sector, the government has gone
to the private sector and they have shown
strong and robust commitment to this country.
Despite the fact that we still have power
outages, the private sector have shown robust
commitment that they are committed to working together with the government.” “Everybody around the world said that it will not
work, that in Nigeria nobody buy assets. But
there are Nigerian businessmen, bankers
teamed up with people to buy these assets and
they want to bring in the dynamism, the
effectiveness of the private sector. “Let’s give them a chance and see how they are
going to transform the power sector, let us be
optimistic and hopeful. So far we have done
well with the process, We have been
transparent and now we are in the last point of
handing over to the private sector.” “In the short term, there will be appreciable
result and when we get to the medium, the
country will be better for it,” the permanent
secretary added.