FG disburses N294.51bn to disengaged PHCN workers – Igali
Igali made the disclosure to State House correspondents
after a special preparatory meeting to strategise on the Nov. 1 physical handover
of PHCN successor companies to private investors.
The meeting was chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo at
the Presidential Villa.
Specifically, Igali said that N214.22 billion was paid as
severance directly to the beneficiaries’ personal accounts, while N80.29
billion was paid as gratuity to beneficiaries’ pension fund administrators.
He said that out of the 47,913 PHCN members of staff
who went through the severance process,
40.093 had been fully paid, leaving out 7,820.
From the 7,820 staff, Igali said that 605 were validated on
Tuesday and would be paid before the end of the week.
Igali said that the remaining beneficiaries yet to be
validated for payment had one issue or the other in their data capturing and
electronic payment processes.
``Some members in Enugu Distribution Company, about 1,478
have their biometric capture corrupted by virus and a new consultant has been
moved to Enugu to recapture them. Those workers would not be accommodated. Additional
929 other workers from all over the country also had their biometric data
corrupted.
``This is a usual thing that happens when you are dealing
with such large numbers and we are bringing them to Abuja at the expense of
government for their biometric data to be recaptured so that they can be paid
their entitlement immediately. There were also duplications of various natures,
names were duplicated and accounts were duplicated. For example, there are
cases where people have three names and while filling, they put only two
names,’’ he said.
Igali said there were
cases of about 2,500 staff that were very bad, but still being handled by the
committee.
He said there were specific cases of people who did not have any record or documents to back
up that they were PHCN workers but identified by people who had been in the system.
``These are mostly casual workers and their cases are being
looked into. There are a lot of casual workers but we brought down the numbers
as low as possible to 2,500 and the cases are being addressed,’’ Igali said.
He said government had set up a technical committee, which
was working day and night to validate as many people as possible for payment.
Igali commended the
maturity and cooperation displayed so far by labour in the privatsation
process.
Reacting to the threat by the PHCN workers to down tools and
frustrate the handing over process, Igali said government had demonstrated good
faith in the payment of the severance allowances.
He also reiterated that government was enjoying good working
relationship with labour in the
privatisation of the sector.
`` Physical handing over of assets will take place as
scheduled simultaneously across the country on Nov. 1. Labour has shown a lot
of cooperation. We enjoy working with them. With these payments, we are home
and dry.
``Let me add that paying these workers does not mean we are
sending them into the labour market. A lot of them will still be recruited by
the private sector while the dead woods will obviously be dropped for the new
blood to be injected into the system. “
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