NIGERIA (Abuja)- A sum of N361 billion entitlements has been paid to 43,375 verified and bonafide staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN by the Federal Government as both gratuity and pension component remitted to their Retirement Savings Accounts, RSA.

In a statement issued yesterday by the Head, Public Communications of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, the money has been remitted to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for onward payment to PHCN staff, adding that the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, was still working tirelessly to validate the remaining 4.5 per cent of the work force.

“These are purported staff that the committee has so far not been able to obtain documents/information to validate their claims to being staff of PHCN. The union is very much aware of this. Does the union want government to pay ghost workers?

”As been pointed out on numerous occasions, the challenges being faced in resolving issues affecting these outstanding 4.5 per cent staff, include irregular staff IDs, duplication in staff numbers and names, lack of or irregular Retirement Savings Account, RSA, pin and account numbers.

“In some cases, the beneficiaries failed to sign or thumb print their benefit statements or inserted wrong passport photographs. There were also a few cases of corrupted biometric data or pictures.

“Some staff also failed to supply the new NUBAN account numbers.  All these, the leadership of labor are aware of, since they are members of the Presidential Committee on the Resolution of PHCN Labour Issues,” the statement said.