Nigeria’s state-run power monopoly, Power Holding Compan y of Nigeria (PHCN), is to sack 50,000 workers next year as part of the plan to privatise the firm, the local press rep orted Thursday.
The report quoted the Special Adviser on power to the President, Prof. Barth Nna ji, as announcing the impending sack during a meeting with House Speaker Dimeji Bankole in the capital city of Abuja Wednesd ay..
Nnaji said after the sack, the 18 companies carved out of PHCN would be handed o ut to private investors, and that US$900 million would be set aside for the severance package of the workers to be laid off.
The privatisation is part of the reform process aimed at meeting Nigeria’s power demand.
Africa’s most populous nation of 150 million people currently produce less than 4,000 mega watts of electricity, which is far inadequate to provide uninterrupted power.
