Over 40 top management staff of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company AEDC) have been sacked, multiple sources have confirmed.
Those sacked include General and Regional Managers.
The action follows the takeover of AEDC by an interim management put in place by United Bank for Africa (UBA) which provided finance to KANN Utility, the core investor of 60 per cent stake in AEDC in 2013, invoked its receivership clause over the incomplete settlement of the loans.
The former board and management of KANN has since been removed and a new UBA-led board and management, headed by the chairman, Victor Osadolor, and the Interim Managing Director, Bada Akinwumi, have been driving the operations of the company since then.
As of December 2021, the new helmsmen announced that the entitlements of the protesting staff had been cleared and tasked them to be more dedicated to their services.
According to unnamed sources in a report by Daily Trust, the removal of the GMs and the restriction of some other top officials of the DisCo appointed by the previous management was a move by the interim management to ensure there is sanity while working with staff they believe could be loyal to them.
“Since they came on board, they have been careful in their communication approach and they fear that the majority of the top officials of AEDC are still loyal to the ousted board and management driven by KANN Utility,” said an official.
Another official noted that the interim management was to operate until UBA had recovered its outstanding loan while helping to reposition the company.
“For now, it is not a permanent thing; once they recover their loans, they will hand over to KANN but for the meantime, some staff may suffer especially those they perceive are loyal to KANN.
“Some of the expatriates were redeployed from their respective departments to the IMD’s office and later, he asked them to work from home, which in itself, signifies that they want to keep them away from the core of daily operations.”
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
