WORKERS in the electricity sector on Thursday in Lagos insisted they would go on strike should the Federal Government liquidate the power sector without settling their entitlements.

President, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) Mr. Bede Opara, said in Lagos that the workers still stand by their words. "We are still waiting for the government to call us for a parley.

"But the day the committee announces the posting of staff of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) or its winding down, we will shut the sector," he said. He, however, expressed the hope that before the committee on privatisation of the PHCN would conclude its job, all issues on workers welfare would have been resolved.

It would be recalled that in March, SSAEAC and the National Union of Electricity Employee (NUEE) rejected the committee set up by the Presidential Action Committee to liquidate the PHCN. They alleged that the committee was illegal, unconstitutional, unacceptable and had no legal power to discuss the issues of the sector.

Opara also queried the statement by the Minister of State for Power, Mr. Nuhu Wya that PHCN workers would not benefit from the new Minimum Wage recently signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan. "I do not know if we do not work for the same government and are we not Nigerians. Don't we have up to 50 staff in the PHCN? "I do not know why the Minister said we can not benefit from the new minimum wage," the SSAEAC president asked.

The Minister of State had argued that the PHCN workers were already being paid higher salaries than the civil servants.

"The N18,000 minimum wage is for civil servants and not for a company like PHCN," Wya said.