THE report in the week that the Federal Government has ordered the immediate release of severance pay to the members of staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who are to be disengaged to enable new owners take over the country’s electricity plants was cheering. The news was not only encouraging to the PHCN workers alone who would be smiling home with lump sums to start a new life but also to millions of Nigerians who grope in darkness due to poor electricity supply but pay high tariff in return as a result of PHCN’s poor and dubious billing system that leaves them wishing that the privatisation of the power sector becomes successfully completed in no time.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, had at the Federal Ministry of Power-Siemens Power Development Forum last Tuesday in Abuja disclosed that he had approved the payment of the workers to start immediately and expressed hope that the workers would get paid before the end of the week. The following day (Wednesday), the Ministry of Power issued another statement to that effect saying: “The Minister has directed the commencement of the payment of severance package to PHCN staff, on which about N384 billion is going to be expended with additional N16 billion to pay other retirees and pensioners of the company.
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