PHCN To Be Liquidated By Court Order

The Minister of Power, Prof Bart Nnaji, has said the Power Holding Company of Nigeria will be liquidated by a court order.

He said the company had yet to be liquidated.

Nnaji, who spoke in Lagos on Thursday during a meeting with the members of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, said operations at the PHCN headquarters were shut down based on the provisions of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act.

Nnaji stated that the PHCN headquarters was spending N500m monthly on salaries and other overheads, adding that the cost centre had been discontinued from January 1 this year. According to him, unlike other stakeholders, PHCN headquarters is not a market participant, hence its inability to generate revenue for the company as a whole.

Commenting on the deployment of some workers from the headquarters, he said those deployed would not have their salaries, allowances or entitlements affected in any way. Those being redeployed, he added, were principal managers and below. Their number, he noted, was 1,050.

On the condition of PHCN workers and their welfare, the minister said the next round of negotiation would be on February 18. He said only thermal stations would be privatised while hydro stations would be given out under a concession arrangement.

Nnaji said after the verification, the ministry discovered that there were three categories of workers in PHCN. The categories are bona fide, illegal and ghost workers.

According to him, the chief executives of the successor companies will soon be called upon to clarify the anomalies.

On the outstanding entitlements owed workers, he said such salaries as well as the 50 per cent pay rise covering June, July and August would be paid in January together with that of January.

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