Employees and pensioners of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) this morning seized activities at various offices across the country in protest against their unpaid entitlements.
Accusing government of propaganda, deception and misleading the public with claims that it had settled the employees, the staff and pensioners said the government was misleading the public against them, whereas they have not been paid.
At the Marina office, Eko Electricity Distribution Zonal complex today, the protesting workers said only a quarter of the workers were paid to deceive the public and the payment had since stopped.
Chairman of the workers union at the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Segun Afolohunso disclosed that the Minister of Power visited in June and had specifically promised payment would commence on 17th of June.
" That was his promise, but the first person to receive payment got it on August 28th, and they stopped since they paid less than a quarter of the total employees nationwide " , Segun Afolohunso told our correspondent today.
He alleged that the Government had been deceptive in its handling of the matters. " Even before that promise came in June, they had been spreading it in the media that they were paying us " , he said.
The workers also said the government has not paid complete entitlements to the few of workers that were paid.
" They listed fifteen Pension Fund Administrators and asked us to choose whichever we liked and we filled the forms they gave us. But that was all we saw till today " , said one of the protesters.
In a similar development, pensioners of the PHCN also staged their own protest, separately. They said they were not aware the workers were also protesting same day and that they thought the workers had all been settled according to news.
Vice President of the South-west Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Mr. Ganiyu Adegbuyi said the news that Government has settled labour issues in the company were all false claims.
Udo Ekwere, Secretary of the PHCN Ijora Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners also claimed; " We heard they settled the workers and we are here so that our own entitlements would also be paid " .
Both workers and the pensioners accused that the Government deceived the public that issues in the electricity sector have been resolved.
Meanwhile, the successor companies from the privatization exercise conducted by the Nigerian government have set to take over from Tuesday.
" Those companies will not inherit the liabilities and that is why we are insisting that our own employers must pay us before the companies take over. If the new companies prefer, they may enter new contracts with us and if not, we will continue our lives from payments made to us " , the protesters said, adding that they would keep besieging the venue until they are paid all entitlements.
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