By Oscarline Onwuemenyi
THE National Assembly has asked the Ministry of Power to ensure that the outcome of the Biometric Data capturing of staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, should be made public.

The lawmakers also admonish that those found to have been milking the system through ghost worker syndrome be severely punished, after determining “the number of ghost workers, who had been collecting their salaries all these years and how much they had defrauded the system.”

The House Committee on Power led by its Chairman, Hon. Patrick Ikhariele, who paid a working visit to the Ministry of Power in Abuja, insisted that “laws are not necessary if they are not to be obeyed.”

“The National Assembly must fish out all those implicated in the possible fraud that complicated the national ambition to provide electricity to the country,” Ikhariele insisted.

It must be recalled that members of the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, had initially opposed the biometric data capturing system introduced by the government, and threatened industrial action if the measure was carried out. The union, however, rescinded its decision after reaching fresh agreements with government on Thursday, regarding the payments of the 50 percent salary increases for electricity workers.

The Committee Chairman emphasized that their visit was prompted by their desire to be co-drivers in facing the electricity challenge together and promised that lawmakers are desirous of giving the needed support both in terms of budget and oversight responsibilities.

In response to the committee members’ questions, the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Darius Ishaku, promised to make the outcome of the biometric data verification public, and reassured that government would implement the controversial tariff regime in phases in order to lessen the burden on consumers, especially the less privileged in the society.

He noted the critical position of power in the realization of the present administration’s Transformation Agenda, stressing that the ministry was poised to confronting it headlong through ensuring that ailing plants were fixed and ongoing hydropower stations rehabilitated.

To avoid the mistakes of the past, he added that the ministry was making sure that appropriate maintenance works are carried out before the final privatization of power assets.

Ishaku maintained that these steps were necessary as no investor would be committed in a venture without the prospects of recouping his investments.

He implored the National Assembly to assist the Ministry so as to collectively meet the aspirations of both the people and the government adding that privatization means creating jobs, and stability to the polity.

…AECN faults Electricity workers on biometric verification
By Christian Olise
THE Association Electricity Consumers of Nigeria, AECN, has faults Electricity workers on biometric verification as a result of the latter’s penchant for wildcat strikes over sundry issues which have nothing to do with trade disputes.

In a statement made available to vanguard in Lagos, Chief Ganiyu Makanjuola, who is an engineer and also chairman of the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA Pensioners Welfare Association, described the reasons why National Union Electricity Employee NUEE, has gone on strikes in the last one year.

He citing last week’s strike by a section of the junior workers in the power sector against the biometric verification of the Power Holding of Nigeria PHCN, staff as the condition for the payment of 50 percent salary.

The Federal Government has directed the PHCN management for the first three months of the 50 percent hike in salary, adding “this singular action has cost the entire labour movement an enormous stock of goodwill, as it is so embarrassing and brazen.”

He said that between 30 and 40 percent of the workers in the federal service has been discovered to be fake, since the Federal Government last year directed all ministries, departments and agencies to conduct biometric data verification which entails collection of photographs, thumbprints and staff numbers of employees.

“There is no compelling reason”, argued Makanjuola, “to assume that the PHCN could not possibly be a cesspool of corruption.

“The message which they had sent out to the Nigerian public by thess opposition to the staff audit is that trade unions in the country carry out nefarious activities with far greater impunity than the political class and it tells the international community that Nigeria’s corruption has no limits”.

The NPA pensioners Association boss, therefore, called on the media and other trusted organs to investigate biometric verification activities.

“The time has really come for the nation to know all those collaborating with generator and diesel importers to derail the ongoing power sector reform,” he said.

Makanjuola also wondered “why the NUEE   describe the impression that Nigeria is a lawless country”, pointing out how they  threatened in media interviews in Lagos and Kadun to called out workers no indefinite strike and without warning in protest against the power sector reform designed to make greater electricity available to the Nigerian people.

The Association reminded the NUEE of the 1984 Essential Services Act, which outlaws strikes by public sector Electricity workers and the Supreme Court’s injunction against such strikes.

According to him, the NUEE has ordered a strike on August 25, last year, in order to frustrate the presentation following the Lagos Road Map for Power Sector Reform.

In his observation, the strike lasted for two days, and it took up to five days for power to be restored in some parts of the country because of the long time it takes for hydro-powered stations and even some transmission facilities to get back to business. “During this time”, he said, “sensitive and expensive machines were damaged and some companies were thrown into a more precarious condition.

The NPA pensioners’ leader recalled that electricity workers had “never participated in an NLC strike in recognition of the critical nature, but the union broke this tradition in October, 2010, when he forced NUEE to joined  the NLC strike for the implementation of the new minimum wage in all states of the federation.”