The commencement of an indefinite strike action on Thursday by the staff of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) in Ilorin, Kwara State, has worsened the epileptic power supply to some parts of Ilorin metropolis and other parts of the state.
LEADERSHIP reports that most parts of the downtown Ilorin metropolis have been in a near total blackout for the past few months.
LEADERSHIP reports that the state of power supply to the hinterland had forced the president of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alh. AbdulMumini AbdulMalik, to write a protest letter to the management of IBEDC.
AbdulMalik, in the letter dated February 5, 2025, and addressed to the managing director of IBEDC, expressed the dissatisfaction of the people of Ilorin Emirate on the persistent poor power supply to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, since last year.
LEADERSHIP had on Thursday reported the letter of complaint addressed to the IBEDC’s management by the IEDPU president, a retired deputy comptroller-general of Immigration Service.
AbdulMalik added that, “the union is displeased that the people of the community hardly enjoyed quality power supply for six hours a day as some areas do not even enjoy power supply for days and with no reason whatsoever from your organisation.”
He regretted that, “the envisaged positive effects of the privatisation of the nation’s electricity sector is not being felt by the people of the community who are mostly and continually served with crazy bills for the power they didn’t consume while also forced to endure perpetual darkness.”
He disclosed that but for the intervention of the union, a number of protests from concerned members of the public across the city of Ilorin and the neighbouring communities would have been recorded as the perpetual darkness was posing serious threats to the security of lives and property as well as the businesses of several individuals and organisations.
The gates leading to the two business offices of the IBEDC at Challenge area, along Murtala Mohammed Way, and Ojatuntun – Baboko area, Ilorin, were on Thursday locked by the protesting workers, who said that they were embarking on indefinite strike action to protest poor welfare facilities.
Some placards placed on the gates of the company read, “IBEDC should prioritise Staff welfarism, IBEDC, no more half salary, IBEDC, pay our PFA, union and cooperative deductions now, Do you expect 100% performance without materials and tools? ”
The secretary of the state branch of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Ayodele Peters, who confirmed the IBEDC workers’ strike, said that the workers in the company were being treated as slaves as they were being paid half salaries by the management.
“All deductions made by the company such as pension funds, union fees and cooperative contributions were not remitted by the company to the appropriate bodies.
“So, that made it difficult for our pensioners to access their money from the pension managers while our members could not get loans from the cooperative society because the management of IBEDC did not credit the account of these bodies after deduction from the workers salaries,” he said.
Peters added that, “the management laid off some workers of the company on Monday while rumors was rife that more workers would get their letters of sack today (Thursday or tomorrow (Friday), adding that, “all these laid off workers would not have access to what the management had deducted from their salaries when they were in service because they have not credited the pension managers.”
All efforts to get the reaction of the IBEDC management were futile as the phone number of the manager in charge Corporate Affairs of the company, Busolami Tunwase, could not be reached at press time.