Monthly salaries of PHCN workers more than generated revenue -Jonathan

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has regretted that the monthly salaries of staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) would hit about N11billion when the new wage increase comes into effect and it would then outstrip the monthly revenue generation of the company.
Jonathan made this known while assuring that he would ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the power sector reform. He advised workers in the sector not to be apprehensive as more jobs would be created under the reforms.

The president spoke on Monday at a workshop entitled: “Agenda for Power Sector Reform” with the theme, “Towards Power Stability in Nigeria,” which took place at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, where he said government was considering the recommendation for 50 per cent increase in the salary structure of the PHCN staff in spite of the enormous cost to the economy.
According to him,“as a further demonstration of our interest in the welfare of electricity workers, we are also favourably considering the recommendation for a 50per cent increase in the salary structure of the PHCN staff, in spite of the enormous economic challenges of the moment.
“Suffice it to state that we inherited a huge wage bill of over N7billion monthly for the PHCN staff. However, with the new increase, the monthly salary will escalate to over N11billion. This figure is interestingly about the same amount the PHCN generates monthly,” he said.
Jonathan, who assured that government was committed to ensuring a revolution in the power sector which would see to its stability,  blamed poor power supply on poor pricing of electricity, observing that Nigeria had the lowest tariff “and no wonder, we have the lowest power supply.”
He said that until the country got the power equation right, industrialisation would be difficult since lack of stable power increased the cost of production which made products manufactured in the country to be less competitive than those imported into the country.

Source:  Nigerian Tribune