STAFFERS of the Power Holding Comapany of Nigeria (PHCN) have been told that they cannot hold the nation to ransom.

Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, who was speaking against the backdrop of the workers’ agitation against the power sector reforms, warned that anyone that wanted to cause problems would be shown the way out.

Nnaji, who spoke at the signing ceremony of management contractor for Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in Abuja, on Monday, assured the workers that the intention of government was to improve electricity supply in the country, adding that it had no intention to lay off any staff.

According to him, “the management company is coming in with only eight people and there is no way those people would take over the jobs of thousands of PHCN staff. What they are going to do is that these eight people will only be taking over eight senior management positions, while the eight people currently at the position would act as deputies.”

The minister reaffirmed that the entire exercise was not intended to hurt anyone, but to improve on the system, so that Nigerians could begin to enjoy improved electricity supply.

Also speaking, Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Bolanle Onagorowa, said out of the entire contract sum of $23 million, $2.5 million had been paid to Manitoba Hydro of Canada, the management contractor, for which they provided an advanced payment cover guarantee and the contract was to run for three years in the first instance.

With the signing of the agreement, Onagoruwa said the management contractor was expected to mobilise and resume on Monday, with all the eight key personnel and the associated support staff.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment