Thursday, 24 April 2014

Ibadan Disco in crisis, top managers resign

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.”