Lagos — The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has vowed to 'legally resist' attempt by the federal government to sell the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria at the cost of N200 billion to investors.

The union also called on Nigerians to join them in the struggle to prevent sale of another national asset at a low price.

President of the union Mallam Mansur Musa told our correspondent on telephone yesterday that its action stems from the fact that the federal government wants to dispose the assets of the successor companies of PHCN.

According to him, the revenue of the power company in nine months can pay for the price the government placed on these assets.

He also said the fact that the government unilaterally fixed the price without involving the labour unions in the sector shows that it acted too far.

He further said there was no proper evaluation of the assets before fixing the price, adding that the development was responsible for disposal of assets by government at a give-away prices.

He challenged the Bureau of Public Enterprises to subject the valuation to public scrutiny before selling them to the 18 successor companies.

He further punctured the statement of the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, that the N200 billion realised from the sale of the PHCN assets will be used to settle the entitlements of workers.

According to him, it is wrong for the minister to arrive at that since he and the unions are still talking on the actual entitlements of the workers.

The Bureau of Public Enterprises had Monday said the over N200 billion to be realised as privatisation proceeds was in respect of 60 percent equity in the 11 distribution companies and did not include the proceeds to be realised from the sale of the generating companies.