PHCN: NCP gives Sept. 27 deadline for payment of entitlement

The National Council on Privatisations, NCP, has directed the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to ensure that workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, receive their entitlements not later than September 27.

The directive, issued at the NCP’s sixth meeting in Abuja, coincided with the approval of the payment of the remaining 75 per cent of the 14 companies that bid for the assets of PHCN.

The firms include: Amperion Power Company Limited(Geregu); Transcorp/Woodrock (Ugbeli); Integrated Energy Company(Ibadan); NEDJO/KEPCO(Ikeja); Vigeo Power Limited(Benin); Aura Energy Limited(Jos); Integrated Energy Company(Yola); Mainstream Energy Limited(Kainji); West Power & Gas(Eko) and Mainstream Energy Limited(Kainji).

Others are KANN Consortium (Abuja); Power Consortium (Port Harcourt), Sahelian Power SPV Limited (Kano); the North South Power (Shiroro) and Interstate Electric Limited (Enugu).

The spokesperson of The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Chigbo Anichebe, in a statement said NCP directed the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to ensure that the entitlements of all the workers of PHCN are fully paid from September 23-27.

He explained that 12 companies met the August deadline for payment of their 75 per cent balance of the bid price.

Two of them, he added, made late payments subject to the penalty approved in clause 12.20 on interest for late payment and clause 5.5, 5.5.1 and 5.5.2 of the privatisations Act.

He said the council has referred the case of CMEC/EURAFIC Consortium, the preferred bidder for Sapele Generation Company, which paid $119,887,156 of the $201,000,000 bid for consideration of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and legal Committee of the NCP for advice. This, he said, was because legal issues requiring resolutions were identified.

He added that the council has approved the protocol for the physical handover of the successor PHCN companies to the bidders that have fully paid the remaining 75 per cent of the acquisition cost.

The NCP in December 2010 advertised for expressions of interest from prospective core investors interested in acquiring controlling stakes in the 11 successor distribution companies (DISCOs) and the six generation companies (GENCOs) created out of the PHCN.

The exercise, which lasted several months, culminated in the selection of 15 preferred bidders for the souls of PHCN, with fourteen eventually making the payment.