THE Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on Thursday denied conducting a fresh verification exercise for former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Amina Tukur, BPE Head of Public Communications, revealed this on Thursday in Abuja in a rejoinder titled “Re-BPE-Notice to all disengaged staff of ex-PHCN staff.”
The Federal Government had earlier disbanded the old PHCN through the BPE, functioning as the Power Generation Companies (GENCOs), Distribution Companies (DISCOS) and the Transmission Companies of Nigeria (TCN).
The United Labour Congress (ULC), as at 2018 still recognises 48,000 as the number of sacked PHCN employees with no reference to new verification.
She stated that the BPE has a reputation of publicising its verification exercise especially with the knowledge of the relevant labour union such as the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEC).
“For the avoidance of doubt, the BPE is not conducting another verification exercise for the defunct staff of the PHCN and is not in any way connected with the purported verification by the group,” says Tukur.
“It must be noted that each time the Bureau carries out verification of former staff of the defunct PHCN, adequate publicity is carried out with the involvement of the NUEE and the SSAEC. But in the purported verification by the group these are absent.
“BPE wishes to dissociate itself from the purported verification and warns all former staff of the PHCN and the general public to beware! To be warned is to be forearmed!”
Olugbenga heads the Investigations Desk at The ICIR. Do you have a scoop? Shoot him an email at [email protected]. Twitter Handle: @OluAdanikin