The Federal Government has so far spent N409.9billion on the payment of severance benefits to ex-workers and death benefits of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has said.
In a statement signed by the Bureau’s Head of Public Communications, Mrs. Amina Othman Tukur on Monday, BPE said the payment streams were categorized into two, severance payments to former active staff of PHCN and, the payment of PHCN retirees/death benefits which PHCN could not pay before it handed over to the successor companies.
According to the statement, for active, the total number submitted to the BPE by PHCN was 47, 913 and out of the number, 47,275 representing 99 per cent have been fully paid.
These were forwarded to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) for payment in 36 batches, according to the statement.
BPE said out 638 outstanding active staff, there are167 duplicate and blank spaces on the list, 414 never turned up for verification while 25 have been audited and are awaiting cash-backing.
It added that nine with initial documentation problems will soon be audited while 23 others have documentation problems.
The statement noted that in the course of the verification, 81 cases were found to be short-paid which have been corrected and cash-backed while 180 cases recently treated and recomputed for short-payment are awaiting cash backing.
The Statement further said 4,438 PHCN retirees have been submitted to BPE in eight batches and to date, 3,131 representing, 71 percent of the beneficiaries have been fully paid their entitlements with 1,307 yet to be paid.
This is as a result of 15 of them having error in serial numbering, 66 possible duplicates in submissions which 14 of them have been recently audited, the statement said.
The privatisation agency said 196 have been cleared and are awaiting cash-backing, while 392 others have been cleared and sent to the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) for pension related benefits.
694 others have had their details sent to the Presidential Initiative for Continuous Auditing (PICA) for gratuities and deceased benefits.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
