THE Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, has directed the management of each of the 18 successor- companies created out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to start paying the staff a 50 per cent salary increase from this month.
In a memo sent to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the successor companies, made available to the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday, Professor Nnaji said the Federal Government had agreed to pay the outstanding first three months of the new salary package which took effect from June 2011.
This, he said, would enable CEOs of the successor companies, who are running the companies as autonomous business entities, to henceforth begin paying the new salary package from September 2011.
The PHCN hitherto generates about N11 billion monthly and utilises a little over N7 billion of it on staff salaries and emoluments.
The 50 per cent salary increase will now bring the new wage bill to over N11 billion, thereby leaving the holding company with a balance of some two billion naira monthly.
The minister stated that this situation was far from satisfactory as the PHCN still had to pay eight billion naira every month to gas and electricity suppliers like Shell, AES, Agip, the Rivers and Akwa-Ibom state governments, which operate Independent Power Projects (IPPs), as well as meet other operational costs of running the business.
“At least, N17 billion has to be generated monthly to defray operational costs and pay staff salaries monthly,” he stated.
Nnaji expressed optimism that the N17 billion benchmark could be met if the PHCN management and staff increased power supply to the public and plugged some leakages within the system.
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