The lingering crises in the power sector have taken a new turn as workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria have rejected moves by the Bureau of Public Enterprises to implement a staff verification exercise ordered by the Federal Government, EVEREST AMAEFULE and SUNDAY OJEME write.The Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria are at loggerheads over the verification of the companys workers ordered by the Federal Government.Investigation by our correspondents showed that following the disagreement on the details of the exercise, the verification, which began on October 20, had been suspended.The Federal Government had ordered that an audit of the workers of the power company should be conducted before the payment of the arrears of some their allowances.The PHCN workers, on the other hand, are insisting that only casual workers of the organisation should submit to the verification as a prelude to their full absorption into the workforce despite ongoing reforms in the power sector.The spokesman of the BPE, Mr. Chukwuma Nwokoh, confirmed to one of our correspondents that the exercise had been stalled, but added that the two organisations were engaged in dialogue in order to resolve the issue."Yes, there is a disagreement but we dont want the matter to escalate. We are in dialogue to resolve the disagreement," Nwokoh said.The General Manager, Corporate Affairs, PHCN, Mrs. Efuru Igbo, could, however, not be reached for her comment on the imbroglio as calls and text messages put to her telephone were not answered.However, PHCN union leaders confirmed that the employees biometrics verification initiated by the government had been suspended due to what they termed breach of agreement.The General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, Mr. Joe Ajero, accused the consultant the BPE engaged to handle the exercise of breaching the pact between PHCN and the privatisation agency on the verification.He said, "We had a meeting where it was agreed by those who attended that the exercise should be restricted to the over 10,000 casual workers in a bid to regularise their appointments in line with the extant labour law. We had representatives from the Federal Government as well."But what we discovered later was that the consultant to the BPE, who is handling the exercise, decided to extend the verification to all PHCN workers, which was not part of the agreement we had."A circular issued to the PHCN workers and dated October 20, 2011, revealed that the exercise was supposed to have started simultaneously across all the organisations offices in the country with that of the corporate headquarters beginning on October 24.The circular, signed by the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, PHCN, Mr. Pius Apuye, advised all the workers to come to the venues of the exercise with their biometrics forms as well as original copies of birth certificate/sworn affidavits, letter of first appointment, letters of most recent promotion and academic/professional qualifications.There are fears among PHCN workers that the verification is part of the Federal Governments ploy to effect the sacking of the workers, who are said to be more than 50,000.Since the reform of the electricity sector commenced, the rumour of mass sacking has been prevalent in the organisation.In 2010, the Federal Government had put aside N200bn for the payment of terminal benefits of those that would be involved in the planned downsizing of the workforce.The workers, however, have been resisting the rationalisation exercise, which is seen in many circles as fait accompli.To ensure that the workers were carried along in the reform and rationalisation process, the Federal Government had in May appointed the founding President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Alhaji Hassan Sunmonu, as the Chief Negotiator/Conciliator.Following the appointment, the first round of meetings to kick-start negotiations between the government and the trade unions in PHCN began on May 16.Sunmonu met with the union leaders in Lagos and followed it up with a meeting with government officials led by Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, in Abuja.The appointment of Sunmonu by the government was meant to ensure the peaceful and speedy resolution of all labour issues in PHCN.However, the labour unions dont seem satisfied with the progress of the reform process, neither is the government satisfied with the speed.Only recently, the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies wrote the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, saying it was wrong for their promotions and other entitlements to be frozen due to the reform process. They also complained that the outcome of the meetings with the Chief Negotiator was not being implemented.They insisted that the standing rule that all labour issues should be resolved before any bidding for PHCN companies was not being complied with.The Federal Government, in a move to appease the workers, had recently directed the payment of 50 per cent increase in their salaries beginning from June.However, this appears to be another source of friction as the workers claim that they have only received 37 per cent raise.For electricity consumers, there seems to be too many frictions and the question on their lips is; would there be light at the end the tunnel
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