Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji has assured protesting staff members of the PHCN that they are simply being redeployed to successor companies following the shut down of Nigeria’s power holding company effective 1 January 2012.

In a statement issued by the Minister’s special adviser, Mr. Ogbuagu Anikwe, the ministry assured that the exercise was simply a routine transfer of staff and allayed concerns on the parts of the workers that they were being displaced.

The statement reads:

“The Regulatory Agency has already directed that no further funds be made available to the PHCN corporate headquarters since it is not a market participant with effect from 1 January 2012”.

Power minister Nnaji urged staff members to take up their new positions, saying that those who choose to remain in the PHCN offices will find that there is no work to be done in the building and no payment available there either.

However some PHCN workers protested the redeployment, especially as they were still being owed salaries in arrears. They demanded that the ministry pay up first before they ship out to their new destinations.

“Some of us are being sent off into far off places that we don’t even know and they haven’t given us our money yet,” a worker said with frustration.

The ministry has assured the workers that it was redeployment and not an evasion tac tic. They said the PHCN workers will receive payment after they got settled into their new work stations.