BY Clara Nwachukwu & Oscarline Onwuemenyi
Abuja — Management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, yesterday, threatened to sack any worker who refuses to report to work, even as the workers took to the streets, protesting the recent deployment of soldiers to PHCN installations across the country.

The Ministry of Power also warned that only workers that have been verified through biometric data will be entitled to the 50 per cent salary increases, of which N9 billion has been released.

Electricity workers stayed away from their offices and occupied the streets and entrance to the PHCN headquarters in Abuja, expressing their displeasure with the action by government.

A statement by the General Manager (Public Affairs) PHCN, Mrs. Efuru Igbo, warned that, “… any staff who absents himself or herself from work without legitimate authority stands a high risk of forfeiting his or her job in line with extant PHCN Conditions of Service (2010).”

She argued that any action taken by the workers is illegal because “PHCN is the sole provider of electricity services to the whole nation and as such, an Essential Services Provider, under the laws of the land, the current situation calls for immediate remedy.”

But speaking with Vanguard on telephone, Secretary General, National Union of Electricity, NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajaero, denied that the workers were on strike, but “on wildcat action.”

Also reacting to the impasse, a statement from the Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji, through his Special Assistant on Labour Matters, Mr. Nick Agbo, said the action of the electricity workers “is not only illegal but constitutes a grave danger to national security and to the country’s development.”

The statement signed by his Special Assistant on Labour Matters, Mr. Nick Agbo, commended workers who refused to join in the action. “The nation appreciates the patriotism and heroism of these selfless employees who consider it callous to cease power in this inclement weather when the temperature rises up to 360Centigrade in some parts of the country,” he said.

He reiterated that government will not condone any acts of sabotage, saying, “The nation cannot be held hostage any more by people working in cahoots with the electricity cabal which does not want improved power supply because of the blood money it makes from the misery of our people. The Federal Government remains resolute in the determination to implement the reform to the letter. The reform is in conformity with the 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act (ESPRA).”

With regard to the salary increase and biometric verifications, the Ministry said, “It is awkward that the NUEE general secretary has vehemently rejected the Federal Government policy that all public service employees, including ministers, undergo biometric verification. All Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have undergone biometric verification, which entails the provision of appointment letters, staff numbers, fingerprints and other simple requirements. The exercise has revealed a huge percentage of ghost workers. It beats the imagination that Mr. Ajaero should ferociously object to the conduct of the verification exercise in the PHCN, an exercise which is in furtherance of the values of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance.

“In consideration of the above, let it be made crystal clear that the nine billion naira (N9b) which the Federal Government has made available to the PHCN management for the payment of the 50% increase in staff salary for the months of June, July and August will be paid to only PHCN staff members who have been verified. Any person who refuses to provide biometric data by the end of November will earn any salary.”

Visitors were barred from entering into the premises of some PHCN offices in Lagos, and none of the representatives was willing to comment on the matter. Similarly, at the time our correspondent visited the PHCN Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja in the morning, workers could be seen all over the place blocking the entrance to the offices, even as the soldiers and policemen deployed to the corporate office tried to contain the protesters so as to make way for vehicular movement.

Some union leaders in Abuja, who spoke to our correspondent, decried the deployment of military personnel to their various workplaces, noting that it was an attempt to intimidate them even as government carries out some arbitrary reform process.