Less than six months after the Ibadan
Electricity Distribution Company commenced operation, some managers in
charge of its business units have reportedly resigned in anger.
Investigation by our correspondent
revealed that four business managers had resigned over alleged
unfriendly attitude of some top management officials of Integrated
Energy Distribution and Marketing Limited, owners of the Ibadan Disco.
Specifically, our correspondent gathered
that Mr. Kanmi Adetunji, Mr. Bashiru Osho, and Mr. Johnson Adeyemi had
resigned their appointments over what they considered high-handedness.
A senior official of the company, who
did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the
issue, said, “These people are versed in the job and they are well
sought after in the industry. They can’t stand the high-handedness of
the management.”
It was also learnt that more managers would tender their resignation letters between now and next week.
Ibadan Disco is the largest electricity
distribution company in the country with its distribution and marketing
franchise covering parts of Oyo, Ogun, Osun and Kwara states.
IBEDC is divided into 22 business units
with five of them in Ogun State. These are Ota, Olumo, Ijeun, Sagamu and
Ijebu-Ode business units.
Another eight units in Oyo State are
located at Akanran, Apata, Dugbe, Molete, Monatan, Ogbomosho, Ojoo and
Oyo. Ede, Ikirun, Ilesa, Ile-Ife and Osogbo business units are in Osun
State; while another four business units in Kwara State are at Baboko,
Challenge, Jebba and Omu-Aran.
The source said, “The implication of
this is that there will be poor power supply and very slow fault
clearing because the business managers that have resigned are well
versed and knowledgeable in the power system.
“If more business managers resign, it will definitely affect the general performance of the Disco.”
Already, the Ibadan Disco had pencilled
down 580 names for disengagement at the end of April, which marks the
end of the six month contractual employment the new investors were
obliged to keep selected workers of the defunct Power Holding Company
following the takeover of power assets on November 1, 2013.
The PUNCH had reported that
several thousands of workers across 11 Discos privatised by the Federal
Government faced retrenchment at the end of the six month employment
period offered by the new investors, which would expire on April 30,
2013.
It was gathered that about 5,357 workers had been pencilled for disengagement by the power firms.
Besides, over 27 business managers were said to have resigned their appointments with some of the power companies.
Some were said to have been advised to
resign in order to avoid being sacked, especially as they had already
attained retirement age.
The source said the new investors might
be trying to outsmart the workers via-avis some provisions of the
contractual employment.
He said, “When the new investors took
over, the government had paid us severance package but the new investors
needed people to work with. So, what they cleverly did was to give
everybody they were retaining six months contractual appointment.
“The prospectus that came
with the contractual appointment was that at the end of the six months,
those who had met their performance target would be given long-term
appointments while those who could not meet the target would be
disengaged. From the look of things, they are trying to outsmart the
workers. No one was given a target except the business managers, some of
who have left.”