The
confidential letter authorising the illegal deduction of the over 7.7 billion
Naira otherwise known as 2% deducted from the Terminal Benefit (Severance Package)
of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) staff nationwide and the untenable
rationale behind it has been uncovered. Unsuspecting members of both unions were
made to understand that investing their money and capacity building are keys to
their overall development in the privatised power sector. The content was
flimsy as it was absolutely ridiculous.
In a letter dated March 15, 2013 exclusively obtained by thenewinsightng.blogspot.com, signed by Joe Ajaero and Bede Opara
representing the National Union of Electricity Employees and Senior Staff
Association of Electricity and Allied Companies which was addressed to the
former Managing Director Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the two
unions promised that they will invest part of the resources of members to
acquire shares in the emergent companies form (sic) PHCN.
The letter reads in part, “our request for the deduction of 2%
from our members entitlements is an industry wide decision taken to achieve our
cardinal objectives by securing
the services of resource persons and other consultants to develop and build
capacity of our members: develop infrastructure for the unions to better perform their
duties in a deregulated power sector; invest part of the resources of our
members to acquire shares in the emergent companies form (sic) PHCN. It is worthy of note that our respective
unions gave us the mandate to deduct between 2-5% from their entitlements but
we opted for lower percentile which will have negligible impact on their
entitlements.”
The unions also added without batting an eye lid that the deduction is to defray all costs associated
with the negotiations with the federal government and improve the financial
position of the associations. If the 2% deduction from the terminal benefit of the entire
staff totaling over 7.7 billion Naira was recklessly spent to defray cost
incurred during negotiation for the payment, one wonders what happened to the
monthly dues deducted over the years by the unions. Were the check-off dues not big enough to take
care of the so called negotiation? Both leadership of the two unions must be reminded that they are
salary earners and employees of the members who make up the unions. Therefore,
they only performed the duties they were paid for.
The reasons adduced by these two unions was in fact what
encouraged the then management of PHCN to approve their demand bearing in
mind that the deduction at that time was meant to further the best interest of
staff (ex-staff). When it has become obvious that the purpose of the deduction
has been defeated and that over 99.9% of ex-PHCN staff whose monies were
deducted as per the 2% are no longer in the employ of any company in the power
sector, it is imperative to ask: What concerted effort did the unions make to
ensure that the ex-staff who they intend to buy shares for in the emerging
companies retained their jobs? Did the unions acquire the so called shares or
built the capacity of members as they proposed three years after post-privatisation
of the power sector? Is it possible that defraying cost associated with
negotiation of payment of terminal benefits of staff has gulped over 7.7
billion Naira? If the unions were armed with the mandate to deduct, the onus
lies on them to also properly account for the sum deducted? Finally, what is
the status of the money at the moment? These questions beg for answers from the
leadership of the two unions.
No comments:
Post a Comment