The reason for the delay in payment entitlements of disengaged staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was to ensure that no mistake were made, CEOAFRICA.com gathered.

The above explanation was made by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Godknows Igali, in an interview with newsmen after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa. He said there is tremendous progress in the privatization of PHCN.

He said all issues relating to labour and others would be resolved before the handover and takeover.

 “There is progress in the handing over of the 10 distribution companies and four generating companies, we are in the last stages. A formal ceremony will take place to hand over the documents to the new owners.

 “There will be no physical handover until the end of this year. We are starting with handing over of the documents, the protocol ceremony for Mr. President to preside over after which, we have one month to undertake cropping issues, for example labour.

“We are making very good progress to ensure that all workers are paid. When you are dealing with paying accounts of workers, about 40,000 people, you have to be careful because it is not something you rush into.

“So, we think that when the handover of the documents is done, we still have another one month to ensure that we look into claims and so on before the final physical take off.” He said.

Igali disclosed that the meeting with the Vice President was a periodic review of progress on work on power plants and need to deal with issues which would ensure that there would be constant supply of gas whenever the project take off.

He said the implementation of the present administration’s power masterplan was encouraging, adding that Nigerians should be optimistic.

“All things are going on very well. Let’s be optimistic. The other sectors that the private sector took over, there is an exponential change in the sector. We saw it in telecommunication. You all were here when it takes a day before you make a call before private sector took over. But today, Nigerians have access to telephones.