IBEDC Workers Shutdown In Ogun, Launch Indefinite Strike

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company’s employees went on strike for an indefinite period of time on Monday due to a number of welfare issues, including the alleged termination of 17 employees, the failure to implement the new minimum wage, and the failure to pay pension and cooperative deductions.

When our correspondent visited the Ogun Region office of IBEDC in Abeokuta on Thursday, employees were seen milling around while the main gate remained locked.

Speaking on the development, the Vice President of the National Union of Electricity Employees, Lagos/Ogun Zone, Abiodun Shobayo, said the workers had no option but to embark on the strike after months of failed negotiations with the IBEDC management.

Shobayo said, “We are here this morning to say enough is enough. The IBEDC management cannot continue to take us for granted on issues we have raised for about nine months,” Shobayo said.

“For instance, our pension and cooperative deductions, running into billions of naira, have not been remitted. We are not given imprest, and workers have been using their personal funds to fix electricity faults and distribute bills.

“The management is not ready to implement the new minimum wage or even negotiate, claiming there is no money. They have also been sacking workers indiscriminately without following due process.

“Seventeen of our members have already been affected, and we have said this cannot stand. We have exercised patience, but it seems the management has a hidden agenda. Just recently, 900 staff of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company were sacked; we do not want the same situation here.

“Seventy percent of the workers here are casual staff, which is unacceptable. This strike is indefinite until the management sees reason. The action affects all IBEDC franchise areas, covering the six states of the South-West, as well as Kwara and Kogi.”

Shobayo added that the union’s demands include the immediate payment of all outstanding entitlements and the reinstatement of sacked workers before any negotiations to end the strike can begin.