Power investors to gain efficiency, set to lay-off last batch of PHCN workers

As investors in the newly privatised power sector get set to disengage the last batch of staff left over from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), industry and legal experts say the investors would gain from the efficiency and productivity that such a step provides.

They would also not be infringing on any aspect of the labour law, while this step would open the way for more investment into the system, they said.

The lay-offs are coming at the expiration of the six-month contractual agreement between both parties (the investors and PHCN staffers) which lapses Wednesday April 30.

Since the beginning of the privatisation exercise in 2013 about 40,000 of the PHCN’s total staff strength of about 45,000 had been verified and paid their retirement benefits by the Federal Government. Some of them were however retained by the new investors over a period of six months, for the purpose of assessing and retaining relevant staff.

Experts say that the lay-offs would enable the new owners shed excess and irrelevant weight, often found in government-owned agencies in developing economies.

It would also enable them free up funds, take on new personnel with the required competencies and concentrate on their core business, as well as enhance margins.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Electricity Employee Union (NUEE) has vowed to resist any attempt by the new owners to cut jobs.

Ayodele Oni, a lawyer,  who was actively  involved in the process of power sector privatisation,  told BusinessDay that the new owners can dispense with the services of the workers, if they so desire.

Oni said the engagement with the electricity workers and the new investors in the power sector involves a trite principle of law that a willing worker cannot be forced on an unwilling employer and vice versa.

“Consequently, the new owners can dispense with the service of these workers as they may so desire. However, the workers are entitled to their severance pay in full,” he noted.

Also commenting on the issue, Bisi Sanda, head of Power, in Ernst and Young, Nigeria , said the attempt by the labour  union to kick against the termination of staff, after the stipulated six months grace period and the payment of severance and other benefits is evidence of dysfunctional  industrial labour relations in the country.

 “The  new investors have the responsibility to  continue to down-size their enterprise, and hose people not adding value to the business should be shown the way out, so that they don’t constitute a burden on the organisation. A lot of right-sizing has to be carried out in the power sector, for us to achieve an efficient system.”

It would be recalled that government released a sum of N380 billion for the payment of retirement and gratuity benefits to PHCN staff disengaged during the privatisation process.

Already some of the Electricity Distribution Companies have sent out letters to all their staff intimating them that the contract signed with them terminates  this week.

Olusola Bello