Energy Briefs
–
THE Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has disbursed a total of N17 billion to settle the retirement benefits of 68 percent of the 4,307 retired workers of defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. About 22 percent of the retirees, who are yet to be completely verified due to challenges of obtaining legal proof of next of kin from the courts, will be paid off as soon as these conditions were met. Also, about 1,169 of the 47,913 workers of the defunct PHCN are yet to be paid their severance packages and the outstanding number included workers that exited the company before the severance payment commenced.
Benjamin Dikki, director general, BPE, made this disclosure last week at the resumed hearing of the Senate ad-hoc committee set up to investigate past expenditures in the power sector by the previous administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.
Dikki said that about 2,791 retired staff of the PHCN, representing 68 percent of the retirees, have been paid N17 billion, while the outstanding number of retirees, which stands at 1,516 would be paid off with appropriate documentation. He stated that government would not pay anyone that had not been verified by the agency and that the next of kin of deceased staff members of the PHCN would have to obtain the appropriate court papers to enable them to receive their relations’ entitlements.
A total of N376 billion was expended in payment of the severance benefits of the PHCN workers. The agencies of government involved in the process of payment of the benefit include the BPE, office of accountant general of the federation, ministry of finance, the Nigerian Electricity Liabilities Management Company, NELMCO, and the Nigerian Pension Commission, PenCom.
On the performance of the privatised electricity assets vis-à-vis government’s options in the case of a possible reclaim from poorly performing investors, Dikki stated that the various agreements signed during the privatisation exercise provide a leeway for the government to reclaim a non-performing entity at the $1 cost repayment to affected investors.
— Sep 28, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
|
Tags:
