BREAKING NEWS, Energy Briefs
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THE National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, has alleged that the federal government has not paid severance benefits to 908 of its members, who had either passed on or retired from service since the privatisation of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
NUEE also said that about 2,233 of its members were yet to be fully paid their severance benefits by the government. The union alleged that the government has continued to hesitate on making the payments almost three years after the PHCN was unbundled and its components sold to private investors.
The union disclosed this when it briefed journalists on the outcome of their opposition of the alleged recent takeover of the building of the corporate headquarters of the defunct PHCN building in Maitama by Louis Edozien, permanent secretary in the ministry of power. According to the union, Edozien came to the PHCN building and forced open doors of offices on the fourth and fifth floor having allegedly allocated the offices to the ministry’s officials and forced their previous occupants, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, out of the offices.
According to Cyprian Akoh, senior deputy general secretary, NUEE, and Temple Iworima, union’s zonal organising secretary, the permanent secretary was resisted and asked by the union to leave the headquarters building. The officials of the union explained that since the unbundling and sale of the obsolete state power firm, the government had set up different technical committees to verify claims of former PHCN employees, yet the government has failed to complete the payments as agreed before the privatisation.
They told reporters that the relations or next-of-kin of the union’s dead members, as well as its retired members have been subjected to government’s claims of incomplete records and subsequent denial of their severance dues. “We got information that the permanent secretary was coming to take over the building. Before now, we told the government that they cannot take over the building because there are labour issues.
“They have not settled the 10 per cent equity that is meant for the labour in the power sector, as well as 16 months arrears they are supposed to pay the workers. There are underpayments and unpaid members and that is why we don’t want them to take over. The new minister and the permanent secretary have refused to listen to these issues and the last time they said all the residual PHCN staff should leave this building but we refused. However, they came here with thugs and started breaking down doors of offices. We resisted him and he left after the staff here came out and were shouting,” Iworima said.
— Apr 4, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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