Mass sack imminent, as new owners take over PHCN

The sack of over 20,000 or 37 per cent of the estimated 54,000 workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) became imminent at the weekend, as the Federal Government insisted that it would hand over the company to new owners on September 21, 2013.

Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, PBE, Benjamin Dikki who disclosed this to newsmen at the weekend maintained the only impediment to the hand over is failure of investors to pay on schedule.

Realizing that the new owners may not need so many staff with investment in ultramodern equipment, government, last week began paying severance package to all workers, who would thereafter negotiate fresh contract with the new core investors.

Dikki however insisted, would hand over privatised successor PHCN companies to private investors on September 21, 2013, if the investors pay on schedule.

The BPE boss said the privatisation programme have significantly opened up the Nigerian economy by creating the right atmosphere for greater private sector participation in several key sectors.

He said the telecommunications sector, in particular, stood out in terms of attracting massive foreign investments, which he put at about $40 billion to date.