Nigeria To Regularise 2,500 PHCN Staff Appointment

Nigeria's Government has concluded plans to regularise the appointment of 2500 casual staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) before the payment of their entitlement.

According to a signed statement by BPE's Head of Public Communications, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, Mr. Dikki disclosed this on Friday when the House of Representatives Committee on Commercialisation and Privatisation visited the Bureau on its oversight function.

The BPE DG added that verification exercise for another 6,700 staff would be concluded before payment of their entitlement.

The BPE boss said in order to fast track adjudication of privatisation cases, the Bureau had concluded plans to establish Privatisation Tribunal to handle privatisation cases. This is even as he added that the Tribunal will also assist the Bureau in enforcing privatisation contracts.

Mr. Dikki informed the lawmakers that the Bureau had received full payment for 14 power generation and distribution companies from the core investors and that 38,000 workers of PHCN who were verified would be paid by the Office of the Accountant General of Federation (OAGF) by Friday, October 11, 2013.

Speaking, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Mrs. Khadijat Bukar Abba-Ibrahim commended BPE's effort in the privatisation process of the PHCN successor companies.

Mrs. Abba Ibrahim also charged the Bureau to at all times “operate in strict compliance with the Public Enterprises Privatisation and Commercialisation Act” of 1999, stressing that BPE should strictly follow the laid down guidelines as approved by the NCP in all its transactions for transparency and credibility.

The Chairman said deliberations with the BPE management during the visit were exciting and had helped bridged the communication gap between the Bureau and the Committee, stressing that the committee members were now better informed on the activities of BPE.

She called for regular interactions between the Bureau and the Committee “as communication gap often breeds mistrust and misunderstanding”.

Source: Frontiers*