Fresh facts have emerged that the Federal Government and workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria have yet to agree on the actuarial calculation of the pension entitlements of the aggrieved employees of the firm.
Though the government had mid-last month agreed to settle all outstanding entitlements of the workers to pave the way for the smooth handover of the PHCN successor companies to investors, our correspondent gathered on Tuesday that there were still unresolved concerns between both parties.
The Federal Government in March constituted an implementation committee for the settlement of workers’ benefits in the power firm, stressing that it had sufficient funds to offset the severance pay and other entitlements of the employees.
However, it was learnt that most of the points of disagreement between the government and labour unions in the sector had been resolved.
But the workers, our correspondent gathered, were insisting that the government must fulfil the agreement it reached with them in full before the privatisation of the sector would be regarded as successful.
The President-General, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, Mr. Bede Opara, told our correspondent that the team set up by the government had done its job and both parties agreed to almost everything, except some of the formulas for calculating the workers’ pension.
“And that is where we have a little breach, but when the larger body, which is the implementation committee, meets with us, it will be an opportunity for us to resolve the outstanding issues,” he said.
Asked if the implementation committee had been able to resolve all labour issues, he replied, “We can’t say all issues have been resolved, but a good number of them have been.”
Opara said, “On the issue of severance, we don’t have any problem. There is no problem with gratuity. Some of the allowances have been resolved to a considerable level. But the area that remains unresolved has to do with the factors used in actuarial calculation.
“For instance, when calculating this, you consider the age and life expectancy of the worker. But the life expectancy assumption they are taking for a male worker is 114 years, while that of a woman is 117 years. So, we are saying that, that age assumption is terribly much and it will impact negatively on the value of our pensions.”
He noted that the workers also had concerns on the inflationary rates used by the government, adding, “Government is saying five per cent and we are saying it is not fair enough.”
Though no date has been fixed for the next meeting with the government, a senior official at the Ministry of Power told our correspondent that the committee might convene a meeting with the unions before the end of the month.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The government has shown its readiness to put every outstanding issue with the labour unions or workers behind it as it strives to make the privatisation of the sector a success.
“The date for another meeting with the union leaders has not been fixed, but we believe that before the end of April, all remaining concerns would have been adequately addressed to ensure a hitch-free handover of the power firms to investors.”