In spite of BPE saying it has settled the entitlements of former workers of PHCN, some of the workers embarked on protests in some parts of the country on Monday.
It would be recalled that Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) said last Sunday that it had paid the pension and gratuity of 43,375 of former workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
The Head of Public Communications of BPE, Mr Chigbo Anichebe, said in a statement that the beneficiaries were among 47,913 workers presented to the government at the beginning of the privatisation process.
But the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) on Monday threatened to shut down operations of all electricity distribution facilities if the Federal Government failed to pay its members’ terminal benefits within one week.
The National Vice-President of NUEE, Mr Mbang Etukubes, issued the threat during a peaceful protest at Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company in Lagos.
The workers’ protest disrupted business activities at the headquarters of Ikeja Electricity Distribution zone and other district offices of the company as the protesters barricaded the entrances to the offices.
Etukubes said the workers would not hesitate to shut down all power installations in Lagos if the issue of their terminal benefits were not paid as mandated.
He said that the Federal Government had reneged on the agreements reached with the workers over their terminal benefits.
The union leader alleged that more than 10,000 former workers in the power sector had not been paid, while more than 25,000 workers had not received their pension components.
“Over 5,000 workers who retired statutorily are yet to be paid their gratuity.
“The death benefits of over 1,000 people who died in active service are yet to be paid to their families,” he added.
The Lagos State Secretary of NUEE, Mr Oluwagbenga Eric, also said that more than 60 per cent of the workers had not been paid.
Eric said that workers’ contributions toward pension fund to date had also not been paid.
He said the union and government agreed that no worker should be sacked till they had been fully paid but the government acted otherwise.
“We are not against privatisation but government should pay us our money and allow us to rest in our respective homes.
“It was agreed that workers should be allowed to be on duty for six months for the new investors engineers to take over in order to understudy us but we are forced out in the name of privitasation which is against the labour law,” he said.
Eric attributed interrupted power supply in the country to the fact that capable engineers who understood the system and the machines had been sacked.
He claimed that the country hardly generated 2,500 megawatts and stressed the need for total overhaul of the power sector to meet national demands.
On the occasion, the acting Director-General of BPE, Mr Ibrahim Babagana,  apologised to the affected workers but promised that all would be paid within the next four weeks.
Babagana said that the managers of the power sector and labour unions would hold a technical meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation.
“I am worried and seriously embittered about the situation you found yourselves; I cannot pretend to say I don’t know what is going on in the system but it is not easy to compute about 47,000 workers’ entitlements without errors.
“We have identified those mistakes and we are working on it. I want to implore those who have not received their severance package to put their names down while I assure prompt payment.
“I will not be part of those who feel suffering you is the way to address issues, am also part of you and I know one day I will definitely be like you to get my entitlements.
“So, I do not want to be maltreated like this,” Babagana said.