Lagos — Some workers of the beleaguered Nigeria Telecom-munications Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (Mtel), are to be disengaged, a top union official said in Lagos yesterday.

Mr. Adetunji Adesunkanmi, president, Senior Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations (SSACTAC), said the disengagement would enable the government to settle the 29-month arrears of salary owed the workers.

Speaking at an interactive session, he noted that the measure was inevitable if the organisations' problems were to be solved.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government had made several attempts at privatising the company and its subsidiary since 2006 when the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) disengaged 7,000 workers and sold it to Transcorp Nigeria Plc.

The workers had, prior to the privatisation, protested the non-payment of their entitlements before the take over of the nation's telecommunications hub by the core investors.

Adesunkanmi said the settling of the workers' entitlements would enable the core investors to take over fully and begin operation.

"Only 445 of the 3, 389 workers will be re-absorbed after their disengagement, and this is to ensure that NITEL is handed over to a new core investor," he said.

According to the SSACTAC president, the Presidential Taskforce on NITEL/MTEL restructuring has presented three scenarios that could be adopted for the reforming of the organisation and the settlement of workers' benefits.

Adesunkanmi said workers who had attained 45 years of age and 25 years in service would be disengaged to reduce the monthly wage bill from N695 million to N187.6 million.

He disclosed that about N52 billion would be needed to settle the entitlements, adding that the benefits of the 7, 222 workers laid off in 2006 had not been settled.

With Agency Reports