Staff of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has raised fresh alarm over alleged plans by the current and immediate past commissioners to loot the national treasury.
A staff, who spoke under anonymity, accused the commissioners of connivance to siphon the federal government allocation to the commission through the payment of severance payouts of about N2.7 billion to the immediate past commissioners.
The source alleged that at the tail of its five-year tenure in 2015, the immediate past commissioners, under the leadership of Sam Amadi, manipulated the Employment and Service handbook of the commission to make it ‘legal’ for them to go home with no less than N2.7bn as severance payout.
He said: “The immediate past commissioners, about 9 of them, made plans to draw no less than N2.7bn from the coffers of the commission as pension for a 5 year service at NERC
“The chairman and the other commissioners were meant to bag N300 million each.
“According to the explanation they gave us to justify such a huge amount of pension, they said that at the expiration of their tenure, they were not expected to assume any paid employment for at least next two years because of the sensitive positions they held at the commission.
“Isn’t N300 million too much for each commissioner who was never owed by the federal government during the course of his service to the nation? Even President, Governors, Senators and others are not allowed to take home such an amount as pension.
“To some of us, that explanation does not justify that huge severance payout and the many other perks and bonuses they have earmarked for themselves.
“This is against the social contract they swore with the Nigeria people on the day of their inauguration.
“We are reliably informed that the N2.7bn severance payout has not been paid to the commissioners whose tenure expired in December 2015 but the amount is lodged in a fixed deposit account awaiting maturity and disbursement.
“Again, we ask: who takes the interest on the N2.7bn that was fixed in the bank?
“The present commissioners, who are yet to get a substantive chairman to head the commission, are already pushing for the payment of the N2.7bn severance payout for the immediate past commissioners so that it would become a precedence that must be followed when their own tenure expires.in 2022.
“That is not all, we are still operating from a rented apartment; whereas, the commission has a permanent headquarters constructed with about N11bn of tax payers money. The reason we have not moved into our permanent headquarters is because the commissioners tell us there is no money to furnish the building.
“But, the commission has N2.7bn to share to only 9 Nigerians at the expense of an N11bn structure that is languishing day-by-day for lack of funds to furnish and make it ready for occupancy”.
“As at today, some of the commissioners are offering to have 15 – 20 percent deduced from their severance payout; so long as they get paid. Where are things done that way?
The source called on the anti-graft agencies to begin a deeper investigation into the immediate past administration of the NERC commissioners and their cronies within and outside the current employ of the commission.
“We shall keep close watch of the commissioners and their cabals and continue to expose their shady deals,” he said.
Reacting to the allegations, the erstwhile chairman of the commission, Sam Amadi, described the allegation as handiwork of fifth columnists paid to destroy the integrity of the commission.
He explained that throughout the five years of the immediate past management of NERC, no approval was made for any increase in remuneration of the commissioners that is not as provided for in the law or based “on precedent we met in the commission.”
Amadi maintained that the commission was only trying to implement the payment structure for severance payout that was inherited or is now mandated by law.
“As at the time we resumed as commissioners, the existing handbook provided for severance benefit at a minimum of 100% of gross emolument, which is also in line with the Pension Reform Act.
“It is the same payment structure that was used by Federal Government to pay the commissioners before us. The payment structure we inherited and ready for implementation is 100% legal and lawful. It is in compliance with the Pension Act.
“Furthermore, it is in agreement with practices of similar regulatory agencies internationally and locally like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
“NERC commissioners do not receive any payment that staff does not receive. Our severance is the same as the staff. It is as provided for in the Pension Act. The commissioners receive the same payments as staff and in the same percentage. I repeat: we have not provided any special perk for ourselves. We earn like all other employees of NERC”, he said.
Asked to disclose the amount he earned as salary and what his severance payout was to be, he declined to provide an answer but said: “It is not right for me to disclose my personal earnings. I don’t know anywhere in the world where chief executives or senior management or commissioners publicly disclose what they truly earn.”
However, DAILY POST reliably gathered that it is the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) that specifies the amount to be paid as salaries, allowances, severance packages and pensions for all workers in under federal government employment.
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