Reps Order Halt Of NITEL, MTEL Liquidation …As PHCN Workers Expect Pay-Off, Dec

The House of Representatives yesterday recommended an immediate stop to the on-ongoing liquidation process of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL).
The recommendation followed the the adoption of the report of the Joint Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Finance, Communications, Public Procurement and Information Technology on the liquidation of the companies.
The House also recommended the reversal of the sale of NECOM House, a core asset critical to NITEL and MTEL.
It further recommended to the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), to direct its record office to stop the existing over N170 billion variance under the supervision of the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
The House also asked the NCP to direct Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE),  to comply with a Federal High Court judgement in favour of 3,000 ex-staff of NITEL and MTEL who were being treated as casual workers.
The House also recommended to the Council to consider the proposal for revamping the two companies adding that privatisation should serve as an alternative to outright liquidation.
It said NCP should direct the management of NITEL and MTEL to commence the process of conducting technical and financial audit of the companies.
It urged the Ministry of Finance to comply with the agreement reached between NITEL and Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to deduct, from source, the reconciled N6.2 billion debt owed the company.
Meanwhile, the Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Power, Mr Beks Dagogo-Jack, last Wednesday said the Federal Government would complete the payment of all outstanding entitlements of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers by December, 2013.
Speaking at a Power Investors’ Summit organised by the EnergyNet Ltd. in partnership with Nextier Capital in Lagos, Dagogo-Jack, said that all other labour issues would be addressed.
“We have an agreement with the PHCN workers unions and we have almost completed the payment, but they will all be settled before January1, 2014 deadline,” he said.
The task force chairman said that the Federal Government only presented certificates to the investors on Monday.
According to him, the physical and structural aspect will be handed over before the end of 2013.
Dagogo-Jack said the desire of the stakeholders was that between now and December, there should be a transition period in the management of the industry.
He said that the transition period would enable investors to make necessary adjustments.
The chairman said that it would also provide avenue for them to test run the market so that they would know where they were heading to.
The task force chairman said that most of the contracts in the power sector would be completed between now and December.
“All the contracts will be put in place and other things will be tidied up within this period,” Dagogo-Jack said.
Our correspondent reports that President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday handed over certificates and licence to buyers of successor companies of the PHCN.
The gesture signalled government’s disengagement from the management of the plants, but will continue to oversee the transmission network in the interim.
Some disengaged workers of PHCN, had that same Monday, staged protests over non-payment of their terminal benefits before handing over to the new investors.

L-R: Minster of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, Consul-General, US Embassy in Lagos, Mr Jeffrey Hawkins and Senior Vice-President, International Franchise Association, Mr Scott Lehr, at a briefing on US Franchise Trade Mission to Nigeria in Lagos, yesterday