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TUC flays alleged N2.7b jumbo pay for NERC board members

By Yetunde Ebosele
05 November 2015   |   12:33 am
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has decried the alleged decision by the board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to pay the sum of N2.7bn to just seven of its members whose five-year tenure will expire on December 22nd, 2015. Giving a breakdown of the resolution, TUC in a statement signed by its President…
Sam-Amadi-NERC

NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi

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Naira

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has decried the alleged decision by the board of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to pay the sum of N2.7bn to just seven of its members whose five-year tenure will expire on December 22nd, 2015.

Giving a breakdown of the resolution, TUC in a statement signed by its President Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary General Musa Lawal, said the sum of N400 million is said to be projected for Chairman of the Commission and N380 million for other members of the board.

According to the Union, the decision said to have been reported in national dallies is happening at a time when both the federal and state governments are crying themselves hoarse over their financial challenges.

Specifically, TUC said the alleged decision can best be described as the peak of insensitivity and cruelty.

“How and why on earth should seven government employees expect to be paid salaries upfront for two years after leaving office during which they would not be eligible ‎to work in the power sector? Worse still is the fact that the colossal sum of money, curiously termed “severance and gratuity,” includes the cost of their “official” cars, phone calls, electricity, rebate allowances, etc. for those port-service years.

“To start with, how much does an average retiring civil servant who has served the country for good 35 years get as severance benefits and gratuity? How justifiable is it for board members of a commission that tactfully midwifed the ripping-off of Nigerians be paid such bogus and mind-boggling sum of money for mere five-year “service” to their fatherland? Why must the people at the lower rung of the ladder always be made to subsidize the greedy and insatiable appetites of the privileged few?

‘We hear that the NERC board members premise their claim to their proposed self-aggrandisement on the argument that their predecessors also received such largesse. If that be true, why so? Why should people of authority in these climes prefer such obnoxious conduct instead of emulating laudable, commendable, goodly and godly virtues?

Furthermore, does the recent slump in price of oil in the international market from between 80 and 90 dollars per barrel to between 45 and 50 dollars not suggest the need for more frugal management of our national wealth?

What rationale do these board members who championed crazy policies and bills to validate hike in electricity tariff have for their nauseating craving for such unholy windfall?

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