THE Federal Government has called on electricity workers in Nigeria to discountenance insinuations that the reforms being carried out in the power sector were targeted at reducing the workforce in the sector.

Minister of state for Power, Nuhu Wya, who made this known while addressing electricity workers at the end of an inspection visit to some power stations in Lagos, called on the workers in the sector to ensure that their capacity to deliver electricity in Nigeria is not limited by any factor whatsoever.

He, however, insisted that those who retired from service would give way to energetic engineers to boost the tempo of the moment. "We are not here to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. President Goodluck Jonathan is too godly to frustrate the hopes and aspirations of thousands of families whose livelihood depends on you," Wya told the electricity workers.

Describing electricity infrastructure as the live wire of economic development of the country, the minister said such infrastructure must be jealously guarded at all times to guarantee investors in Nigeria's power stations.

He assured that the federal government would remove all budgetary constraints that were limiting the power system from generating at full capacity, adding that the president had constituted a committee to work out and negotiate with PHCN workers their grievances with a view to resolving them.

He, however, pointed out that the Union's stand that negotiations had to be halted until all monetization arrears were paid was not in the best interest of the workers. On their part, the electricity Union leaders appealed that the reform processes in the power sector should be gradual, while also requesting the federal government to address the succession problems at PHCN.