By CHARLES KUMOLU

LIKE other sectors of Nigeria’s socio-economic existence, the story of the country’s energy sector since the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria, ECN, ordinance No. 15 of 1950,  has been punctuated by operational  failures. Although, those in charge of the nation’s power sector can claim otherwise owing to some distant and recent reforms in the sector.

But the sad state of the power sector, is a common knowledge to both the learned and unlearned man on the streets of Lagos and Lafia, as  almost all Nigerians are victims of the near absence of electricity in a country of about 160 million people.

It is for this reason, that a lot of people are not often bothered about developments in the sector, even when such developments could make darkness give way to light. This situation is already playing out, following the  liquidation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria,PHCN.

Expectedly, this move  would have triggered  diverse reactions from consumers following the planned exit of government in its management, but reverse is the case. This, to a large extent, underscored the apathy of the populace to  happenings in the sector. In fact, but for the dispute between, National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE and the Federal Government,FG, not a few would have been aware, that PHCN had  been buried, leaving in its trail a lot of contentious issues.

Liquidation of the PHCN: These issues, Vanguard Features,VF, findings revealed, bordered on labour matters,  job security of affected staff, how the reforms would enhance power generation and distribution, the role of PHCN in the new set up, among others. For instance, it was recently reported that the government had concluded plans to sack no fewer than 20,000 workers of the PHCN  ahead of takeover by successful bidders of its assets.

Protesting PHCN workers

Though the government had come out to dismiss the report, fear is the word among PHCN staff across the country.

Terminal benefits

While the FG recently announced that  N384 billion will be used to settle the terminal benefits of workers  ahead of the privatization of PHCN’s assets, the workers led by  the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC, do not feel comfortable with the decision. The association has not only rejected it, but it has like its NUEE counterpart, gone further to petition the Minister of Power, reminding government that labour only gave conditional support to the planned privatization of the sector.

SSAEAC in the petition through its President-General and General Secretary, Mr. Bede Opara and Biodun Ogunsegha, warned government that if it went ahead with  privatization without carrying labour along, it would  definitely  be counter- productive.

The petition reads: “In furtherance of the agreement that the unions in the power sector  signed with government on December 11, 2013, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, engaged the services of an international consultant, Alexander Forbes, to compute, using the necessary variables to arrive at the total terminal benefits due to staff of PHCN and also determine the individual benefits. The unions were invited to work with the consultant and BPE, to diligently carryout this assignment.”

Terminal benefits ontroversy: “At the meeting with the consultant that was held on 14th and 15th January, 2013 in Lagos, our representatives (of the two in-house unions) on the computation of terminal/severance benefits, reported fundamental observations/errors in the computation as follows: The salary scale used in computing gratuity is not PHCN salary scale as at June 2012, as agreed with negotiation team under the leadership of SGF.

“Souvenir entitlement was omitted in computation of total entitlements as agreed with Comrade Hassan Sumonu Committee, in compliance with our 2010 Conditions of Service. The variables used in the formula for annuity by the consultant are not realistic: (a) interest rate, (b) inflation rate (c) discount rate, and (d) life expectancy of each staff. Alexander Forbes used:

*5% as inflation rate (pension increase), instead of current rate of 12.5%; *14% as discount rate, while the current rate is 11%. The data used for all staff are not correct in addition to unclear assumed life expectancy of each worker.” According to SSAEAC: “We are left with no option than to bring this to your notice, for immediate redress by directing the Consultants through the BPE to correct these abnormalities to enable the reform to go on as planned. While our Union and staff re-affirm our conditional acceptance of Government reform despite our preferred position, we will not allow our members to be cheated.

“Any attempt to the contrary of the agreement reached will be resisted by the workers.  It is in the light of the above that we were surprised at the announcement of a N384 billion approval by the Federal Executive Council as representing total terminal benefits to PHCN Employees.

“This announcement was grossly misplaced because the Alexander Forbes Consultant engaged by BPE had not concluded his assignment and no figure had emanated from his work. We do not understand the rationale for announcing such a figure. It should be noted also that only the unions as representatives of the workers can confirm the basis of computations while individual staff will verify their data.

Report of the valuers of PHCN assets

“The proposed issuance of statements of workers’ terminal benefits at the exclusion of our association headquarters by BPE will be counter-productive. The earlier this verification of staff data is done the better for progress of the reforms. We remind the government that our support for the reform is conditional upon the final settlement of all labour liabilities, hence the long period of negotiations and the resultant agreement which upheld our Condition of Service 2010.

It would be recalled that barely 24 hours after the government said it had approved N384 billion for the payment of all entitlements of workers of  PHCN, and process of the payment expected to begin a day after (21-02-13), NUEE rejected government position, threatening to shut down the industry, should government fail to reverse its position and perceived provocative utterances.

Similarly, the General Secretary of NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajero, reportedly said: “With all sense of patriotism, we demand also for the report of the valuers of PHCN assets and liabilities which actually came up with the current value of PHCN put at N200 billion only.

Valuation of a company like PHCN should be transparently done with active participation of all stakeholders. We believe that this is the only way credibility and transparency would return to the whole privatisation process. This will enhance investors’ confidence and those of the international community.”

Puncturing Ajareo’s position, a retired NEPA staff, Mr. Uchenna Onyewe, told VF that: “I have been in that system and I know why they are always protesting. This is not the first time that they are threatening fire because of privatisation. If you know the height of sharp practices among these NEPA civil servants, you will know why the sector has remained inefficient. Privatisation is good if well carried out, with all parties involved having a fair deal.”

Also lending his voice, President-General of Trade Union Congress,TUC, Peter  Esele, urged government to make the funds available to the workers  for a successful takeover of the various power assets recently privatised across the country.

Despite these doubts on the Federal Government’s sincerity, it  has     promised that all issues concerning labour’s severance settlement in the sector will be resolved before the end of June 2013.

‘“We are finalising on labour. Labour is what is standing between us and the handing over and all the issues that were there had been addressed. We are about to begin payment, as soon as the payments are finalised by June ending, we will definitely be handing over to the successor companies by the end of July; that is the projection we have here and that is the stance of the BPE which has a timeline which was created with the labour issues in mind,” Minister  of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi noted.