7,000 disengaged PHCN staff yet to be paid

NO fewer than 7,000 workers of the defunct
Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, sacked
in the wake of Federal Government’s hand-over of
PHCN’s facilities to new owners, are yet to be paid
a kobo, while about 30,000 of the staff received
part payment of their severance benefits. This is five days after the expiration of the 15 days
promised by government in the agreement
reached with organised labour on the eve of the
hand-over of the facilities to the new owners. Investigation by Vanguard confirmed that contrary
to promise, government has not addressed the
issue of the 4,805 , whose biometric data had
been captured, but were awaiting data re-
verification; 2,500 identified as casuals by
presidential Committee under the Minister of Labour and Productivity, normal retirees yet to
receive their gratuity and pension benefits who
are to be captured biometrically and paid
accordingly. Recall that the Federal Government and organised
labour, on the eve of the handing over, reached
agreement on pension issue, including non-
payment of severance benefits to the workers.