PHCN: NCP gives deadline for payment of entitlement

THE National Council on Privatisations (NCP) has
directed the Office of the Accountant General
of the Federation to ensure that workers of the
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN)
receive their entitlements not later than
September 27. The directive, issued at the NCP’s sixth meeting
in Abuja, coincided with the approval of the
payment of the remaining 75 per cent of the 14
companies that bid for the assets of PHCN. The firms include: Amperion Power Company
Limited(Geregu); Transcorp/Woodrock (Ugbeli);
Integrated Energy Company(Ibadan); NEDJO/
KEPCO(Ikeja); Vigeo Power Limited(Benin); Aura
Energy Limited(Jos); Integrated Energy
Company(Yola); Mainstream Energy Limited (Kainji); West Power and Gas(Eko) and Mainstream Energy Limited
(Kainji). Others are KANN Consortium (Abuja); Power Consortium (Port Harcourt), Sahelian Power SPV
Limited (Kano); the North South Power (Shiroro)
and Interstate Electric Limited (Enugu). The spokesperson of The Bureau of Public
Enterprises (BPE), Chigbo Anichebe, in a
statement said NCP directed the office of the
Accountant General of the Federation to ensure
that the entitlements of all the workers of
PHCN are fully paid from September 23-27. He explained that 12 companies met the August
deadline for payment of their 75 per cent
balance of the bid price. Two of them, he added, made late payments
subject to the penalty approved in clause 12.20
on interest for late payment and clause 5.5,
5.5.1 and 5.5.2 of the privatisations Act. He said the council has referred the case of
CMEC/EURAFIC Consortium, the preferred
bidder for Sapele Generation Company, which
paid $119,887,156 of the $201,000,000 bid for
consideration of the Office of the Attorney
General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and legal
Committee of the NCP for advice. This, he said, was because legal issues requiring
resolutions were identified. He added that the council has approved the
protocol for the physical handover of the
successor PHCN companies to the bidders that
have fully paid the remaining 75 per cent of the
acquisition cost. The NCP in December 2010 advertised for
expressions of interest from prospective core
investors interested in acquiring controlling
stakes in the 11 successor distribution
companies (DISCOs) and the six generation
companies (GENCOs) created out of the PHCN. The exercise, which lasted several months,
culminated in the selection of 15 preferred
bidders for the souls of PHCN, with fourteen
eventually making the payment.