By  VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & KUNLE KALEJAYE

FEDERAL Government representatives led by the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji and Organised Labour in the electricity sector, under the umbrella of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and  Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, SSAEAC,  met recently to resolve contentious labour issues ahead of government planned privatization of  Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.  The meeting did not only end in deadlock, but also, adjoin sine die and workers in sector have become very restive and threatening fire and brimstone.

In an interview with Labour Vanguard the President-General of SSAEAC, Engineer, Bede Opara, spoke on the stalled negotiation among others.  Excerpts:

What is the state of negotiation between government and labour today?

Negotiation between PHCN Labour Unions and the Federal Government started in May last year and it has dragged on for so long. In some situation we may agree, but the implementations always have some issues.  The stage in which we are now is the discussion of severance package as well as terminal package.

The labour position is that since PHCN will be privatized to different companies and if we are to continue to work with the new owners, we must be settled for the one we have done already with PHCN so that by the time we get into those companies whom we do not know who will run it, we will have a new conditions of service or agreement with the new investors. That is where we are. The issue of the terminal benefit is where we are now and nothing has been agreed.

Government is saying that they are going to pay us maximum of one year basic salary, which means no matter the calculation, the number of weeks and the years of service an individual has rendered once it gets to your one year basic salary that is the end.

At the same time, the federal government is saying that it is not going to pay the total emolument of salaries. But Labour unions, are saying that when it comes to salary it has to be total monthly salary, not basic salary. Because basic salary is nothing compared to the other allowances.

So we have not agreed on these issues.  May be I have served for 15 years and another person worked for five years, they are saying all of us will be paid one year maximum. this is not done anywhere .

Whenever government calls you for another round of meeting as it is now, what will be your Position?

Our position has not change. It is when we get in there that we will see if government has shifted ground or not. But if they have not shifted their grounds, I don’t see Labour shifting their ground.

What will the role be of organized in  a privatized power sector?

Labour will always be there and we know all things will be done to cow labour, but we will resist that with everything we have. Part of the resistance is to ensure that the kinds of people coming in to manage the transmission station are not known anti-labour employers. We were informed that Indians were coming in. We told the minister clearly “if you are bringing in Indians no matter who they are we say no.”

I have to be sincere to you, the minister listened to us and it is not Indians that are coming, the people that are coming now are Canadians. It is not as if Indians are not succeeding in one thing or the other but the point is anywhere we see any threat of muzzling labour we will resist it.

If the investors say they do not want labour that business will fold because part of our negotiation is that labour will function freely. We have written it down and it has been adopted by the government and anybody who wants to violate it we will frustrate such a person.

Some have argued that corruption including by PHCN workers was part of brought power sector to this present lamentable state. How do you respond to this?

Corruption is like a Nigerian now but it does not mean that there is no corruption elsewhere.  After all, the word corruption is an English word, not a Nigerian word. So as it exists here so it also exits elsewhere. If I say that corruption has not play any part in the current state of the power sector, it is a lie.

This culture of impunity in Nigeria is so bad that when contracts are given out and they are not executed, there are no sanctions against the offenders. There are lots of contracts that have been awarded, the contractors did not perform and nobody was sanctioned. Now that they want to privatise the sector, what we are saying is that let it be done transparently for all to see.

But where did the corruption start? What kind of government will run a sector for 20 years without building a single power station yet population is increasing the way it is increasing, development is going on? You do not need a prophet to tell that corruption played a part in what happened in the past.

So a lot of what you are seeing now that the infrastructure that was built so many years was what we were still using before the present initiative by the present government in power and those infrastructure have been over stretched.

Is there a follow up  by Labour to ensure that the recommendations are fully implemented by Government?

We have agreed in the negotiation we are having with government that there will be an implementation committee and when there is an implementation committee government is still the chairman of the committee, labour will always have representatives there and if they don’t implement, we will always voice out.

However, if PHCN generates 30,000mega watts of electricity today, there will be market for it. We have the example of NESCO in Jos where they generate and transmit power and there is market for them to sell their product for over 80 years that they have been in existence.

I congratulate the Federal Government for opening up the sector so that state and local governments can built their own power plants if they have the capacity so that they can transmit and distribute. Labour as a union welcomes it because before the law was passed it went through the first and second reading in the National Assembly, we did not complain.

For instance, Akwa Ibom is generating 100mega watts. If all state can contribute at least 100mega watts; multiply by 36, will give 3600mega watts. There is no doubt that we will have enough power supply without bringing foreign investors into the country. If you add 3600 mega watts to what PHCN have that is about 3,500 we will have about 7,100mw this automatically means that we will have more than 18 hours of electricity.

Private companies can make their feasibility study and make a choice of what they want to produce. If they discover that there is coal somewhere, they can build their power there, the same goes for hydro and solar. But government should be able to provide the enabling environment for them to operate. Also there should be a powerful regulator to enforce the laws governing the sector.

From the experiences from the previous privatization exercise, are you convinced that PHCN will be better?

Labour position all along has been that privatization will not give us the answer. Why? Our reason then was that we have looked at all companies privatized by BPE, they have failed.  Even if BPE is claiming that about ten of them are doing well. Ten out of 100 is not a pass mark.

An organization like PHCN is what they want to take into that same market where things don’t go well. We are afraid that things will not go well.  That has been our position in the past and it still remains our position.  If the government wants to privatized, we have told them to go ahead with it but they have to settle us first. if do not settle us, I am afraid, this is going to be a problem because we will not accept.

Let me give you the example of Daily Times. I don’t think that company has produced any paper for people to read since privatisation. The whole edifice has become a warehouse where empty cartons by a soft drinks manufacturing company are stored.

The workers that left that place what is their fate, what has happened to them? The privatization of Daily Times, has it made that place better? What is the guarantee that is happening i Daily Times will not happen to PHCN? These are our arguments and we want to see that the kind of privatization that will be done in PHCN will not be that type.

The power sector is such a critical sector that you cannot afford to say alright,  let us close it down, let us say one year we will pick it up again. It is not possible but for other companies you can close it for one year or two before picking it up again. We cannot afford to do such  in the power sector.

Apart from being  workers in PHCN, we are also Nigerians. So, whatever affects Nigeria affects us too. Even if we are not working here whatsoever is the fallout in PHCN or any privatization that does not work out well, will touch us. We feel we own it as a duty to Nigerians to say if you must privatized, make sure it is done right and again workers must be properly settled. We do not want to go out before the government settles us.