Biometrics: Reps canvass punishment for fraudulent PHCN workers

The House of Representatives has directed the Ministry of Power to ensure that workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria found to have been milking the system through the ghost worker syndrome are severely punished.It also wants the outcome of the biometric data verification exercise for the PHCN workers to be made public. The House also demanded the exposure of the ghost workers, who had been collecting salaries from the company over the years and by how much they had defrauded the system.The Chairman, House Committee on Power, Mr. Patrick Ikhariele, who led other members on a working visit to the ministry, on Thursday, insisted that laws are not necessary if they are not to be obeyed.Ikhiriale said the National Assembly must fish out all those that would be implicated and who had contributed to the complication of the national ambition to provide electricity for the country.He emphasised that the committees visit was prompted by its desire to be co-drivers in tackling the electricity challenge and noted that the lawmakers were desirous of giving the needed support to the ministry in terms of budget and oversight responsibilities.Responding, the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Darius Ishaku, assured that government had resolved that the controversial tariff increase for electricity consumption would be in phases in order to lessen the burden on consumers, especially the less privileged in the society.He also assured the legislators that the outcome of the biometric data verification would be made public.Ishaku acknowledged the critical position of power in the realisation of the administrations transformation agenda, stressing that the ministry was poised to confront it headlong by ensuring that ailing plants were fixed and the hydro power stations rehabilitated.The minister assured that to avoid the mistakes of the past, the ministry was making sure that appropriate maintenance works were carried out on the plants before final privatisation.Ishaku maintained that the steps were necessary because no investor would be committed to a venture without the prospects of recouping his investments.
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