By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Managing Director, Jos Electricity Distribution Company, Engr. Abdu Bello Mohammed, has appealed to the two in-house unions to prevail on staff to desist from sharp practices in order to help the company succeed.
Mohammed made the call on the several reports of staff involvement in shortchanging the company through electricity thefts.
Reports have always emerged that DisCo staff are involved in vandalizing heavy electricity equipment, meter bypass, and other sharp practices, our correspondent reports.
“I urge you (union), to prevail on staff to desist from sharp practices in the course of their duties. Findings have revealed that some staff of the company were involved in terrible misdemeanours against the company”, Mohammed said on Tuesday in Jos, while addressing the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity And Allied Companies ( SSAEAC).
According to him: “We have had cause to investigate malfeasance of staff with the DSS and it was terrible. Sadly, some staff are going around hurting the system. Transformer oil being spilt. These people are our enemies.
“We charged staff to take ownership of the company by doing the right thing that could progress the business. “If anything adverse happens to the company, it will affect all and sundry.
“Kindly protect this company and help it to progress. This is where you feed from. Your family, your relations and your friends depend on you for one form of assistance or the other. People are dependent on you because you are working here. Life outside there is not an easy one. There are no jobs outside there. Please, defend the job that you have. Things will get better and when it gets better, staff will surely enjoy it.
“To optimize performance, we need the support of the unions. We will do all within our power in terms of the enhancement of workers welfare.
“I charge the leadership of the unions not to hesitate in drawing my attention or that of the management to areas they feel that management is lacking.
“All hands must be on the deck for us to run the company properly. Feel free to engage us on any issue you feel not too comfortable with. Let us engage. Let us work together for the good of the company”, he said.
Responding, the Vice President of NUEE, Comrade Mathew Ojochide Agbata and the Deputy National President, of North, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies, (SSAEAC), Comrade Rilwanu Shehu commended the Managing Director for all the pragmatic steps taken towards workers’ welfare so far.
The unionists who said that they would be embarking on a sensitization tour of the company to talk to staff to turn a new leaf for their good promised not to side with staff on account of thievery or indiscipline as they are poised to help in instilling discipline among staff.
