FG Pays PHCN Workers N80b Severance Benefits

The federal government has said the sum of N80.290 billion had been paid as pensions and gratuities to workers of PHCN.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of stakeholders in the power sector  at the Presidential Villa, the Permanent  Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, said government would  ensure that all PHCN  workers, whose record had been validated are duly paid their entitlements.

He further said the payment was coming ahead of the handover of the assets of the PHCN by private investors tomorrow simultaneously across the country.

He stressed that an additional 605 workers have also been validated on Tuesday and their payment have just been paid.
However, NUEE said the directive became necessary following the desperate move by the federal government to physically handover PHCN facilities to investors without the resolution of labour issues.

The union also accused government of deploying armed military troops to all PHCN installations stating that the aim is to ostensibly to allow a forceful takeover of the installations without conclusively settling the labour issues

In a statement signed by NUEE’s Secretary, Joe Ajaero, claimed that only 68 per cent of the gratuity payment had been made, noting that “no member has received a dime of the pension funds savings into his/her Retirement Savings Account (RSA) as agreed.