Clara Nwachukwu
Electricity workers have beenadmonished against derailing the ongoing reforms in the power sector, as the success of the reforms entails freedom from the darkness and inefficiencies that have trailed the nation’s power sector.

Speaking on the labour issues that threaten the success of the reforms in Lagos at a one_day workshop for journalists, the leader of the Labour Unit of the Presidential Task Force on Power, Mr Salisu Muhammad, accused labour of deliberately trying to frustrate the reforms by refusing to continue with further negotiations on the labour issues.
Muhammad, who urged the union executives to eschew politicising the labour issues and meet the Federal Government half way, especially as President Goodluck Jonathan has demonstrated the goodwill in resolving every outstanding issue, in order to move the power sector forward.

For instance, he said government has paid the sum of N44billion as at the end of September, as part of the monetisation agreement reached with the respective workers union, particularly the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE.

He noted that payment of the monetisation has been delayed on account of the verification of workers to ensure that only legitimate staff are paid. “The verification exercise lasted for two weeks, which was carried out by reputable accounting firms including KPMG, Deloitte.”

He explained that those that were not paid were either those who did not have proper identification, the deceased and other staff with issues in some locations like Warri.

Muhammad argued that contrary to NUEE’s accusation of reneging on agreements, “every worker will be paid after the harmonisation exercise,” adding that the Presidential taskforce has mapped out different strategies to tackle other outstanding issues through dialogue and negotiation.

So far 38,113 workers have been cleared and paid; about 5,448 are not yet cleared; another 1,287 cleared but with pending issues; and about 1,260 cases of underpayments through under reconciliation.

Against this background, the former labour unionist condemned the August 25, strike and the fresh action being threatened by NUEE, when government is opening its doors to investors and stakeholders to the power sector, which he described as sabotage.

He said, “Labour went on strike on the eve of the launch of the Roadmap on Power, and government overlooked it and still went ahead to release money for the payment of the monetisation. Now again, on the heels of another major event, the Presidential Retreat on Power for Stakeholders, labour is threatening another strike, which at best is an act of sabotage.”

He warned that if the unions continued in their hard stance, this could backfire, and the interest of workers will suffer, adding that electricity workers union should be able to draw the line between unionism and politics.

Muhammad reiterated that there is no alternative to the power reforms, as “No amount of money put into the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN can save the power sector without the reform.”

But reacting to some of the accusations, the Secretary General of NUEE, Joe Ajaero, told Vanguard that the union will not enter into another negotiation with the taskforce unless the monetization has been fully paid and properties ceased returned to the union.