FG yields to electricity workers •Agrees to pay severance packages, gratuities •As Tambuwal laments rot in power sector

SUCCOUR came for workers in the power sector in the early hours of Wednesday, as government finally shifted grounds to yield to the demands of electricity workers, just  as the over 20 months negations between the Federal Government and the electricity unions were resolved amicably.
The unions are the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC).
Government, at the end of the meeting, agreed to pay the workers in Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN ) condition of service, as well as gratuities up to June 30, 2012, as against the previous position of June 30, 2004.
The negotiation, presided over by Senator Pius Ayim, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, also resolved that the workers’ pensions, with calculation up to June 30, 2007 is to be based on PHCN condition of service, while 15 per cent would be used to cover from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012
The severance package for the workers’ also remains 20 per cent of gratuities and pension up to June 30, 2012
Reacting to the development, NUEE’s General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, said it was time the Federal Government identified individuals preventing the sector from performing and ensure it returned to reckoning.
The labour leader, who is also the deputy president of the Nigeria Labour Comgress (NLC), however, said “government should allow any investor who wants to invest in the sector to go to any village of his choice, generate power and sell it to the people there.”
Similarly,  SSAEAC’s president, Bede Opara, while welcoming the new agreement, called on the government to look into an earlier bill passed by the National Assembly  that sought to encourage investors to go to localities to generate power and sell it there, as opposed to the idea of distribution companies.
In a related development, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honurable Aminu Tambuwal, has expressed his disappointment over the rot in the power generation and distribution sector in Nigeria.
Speaking with members of the presidential task force on power, led by its chairman, Mr Beks Dagogo, who paid him a visit on Tuesday, Tambuwal said it was unacceptable that insignificant progress had been recorded in the sector in the past 18 months.
“We passed a bill to amend the Power Act in 2005, which was subsequently signed into law.
“Before we passed that bill, we were assured that once it was passed, there will be an end to power outages.
“We invested billions of naira into the sector and up till now, there is nothing to show for it. I think it is time we stop deceiving ourselves; we need to confront the truth about this issue of power,” he said.

Tribune