By Victor AhiumaYoung

Nigerians for Better Nigeria, NBN, has called on the management of Ikeja Electric IE, Plc, to provide working tools and operational vehicles for its staff, saying ceaseless grumbles by staff is becoming an embarrassment.

According to NBN, in most cases, consumers under the IE, especially in the Amuwo-Odofin area of Lagos are faced with staff of the distribution company complaining of a lack of working tools and operational vehicles to fix even the smallest of faults.

In a statement, National Secretary, Abdulmumin Sanusi, among others, said “We want to use this medium to call on the electricity distribution companies commonly known as DisCos, especially Ikeja Electric, IE, Plc to provide working tools and operational vehicles to the staff to discharge their duties effectively.

“Consumers, especially in the Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, LGA, have continued to receive complaints from the staff of the distribution company for over no working tools including operational vehicles among others to effectively discharge their duties.

“When you report the fault, they will tell you there are no materials such are cables to fix little faults. When consumers volunteer to pay for cable and others, they will tell you there are no vehicles to go to the site to clear the fault or even asses the fault.

“What we have found out is that the management just gives even the marketers outrageous targets without tools including operational vehicles to the work. The management is only interested in profit maximization without working tools. There is a reason for the crazy billing of consumers without pre-paid meters.

“The worst of it is that the field workers now claim that the management because of subsidy removal has practically phased out the night shift. According to them, they close by 5 p.m. What that means is that there is nobody to attend to any emergencies or faults at night.

“We have made efforts to reach the management to report these complaints to no avail. If this continues, we may have no other option than to report the management to the regulatory agency for appropriate action.”