The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has condemned the invasion of the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) headquarters in Alausa by its armed personnel, describing the incident as unfortunate, while promising to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
Following the impasse between the Sam Ethnan Base and Ikeja Electric over N4 billion unpaid bills and the 13-day disconnected electricity supply to the base, some armed soldiers, numbering about 64, were said to have stormed the premises of Ikeja Electric to demand for their light to be turned back on.
In the chaos that erupted, the soldiers were said to have overpowered the IKEDC Staff, injured over 10 of them, and left vandalised property in their wake.
When THISDAY visited the premises, some of the staff showed the unhinged doors that were broken through, shattered award plaques, and even a photocopier that was damaged with the staff alleging that their phones, laptops, and other personal belongings were taken by the armed personnel.
Some of the drivers, who were made to initially drive off with 14 cars belonging to IKEDC, were seen on the premises still shaken by their ordeal as they were only allowed to return to their office with the cars after the due intervention of NAF hierarchy.
Also perturbed by the terrifying experience were IKEDC Chief Executive Officer, Folake Soetan; Head of Corporate Communications, Kingsley Okotie; and Chief Technical Officer Olajide Kumapayi, and many others who were manhandled in the show of rage.
After a five-hour meeting between the leadership of the NAF in Lagos and IKEDC led by the Chairman, Mr. Kola Adesina, both parties sued for peace while stressing the need for accountability and payment of owed debt.
Confirming the attack on IKEDC office with 10 brutalised employees, Mr. Adesina, while commending the emotional intelligence exhibited by NAF leadership in response to rage by personnel, said the federal government has promised to expedite payment of the outstanding N4 billion debt.
While lamenting the financial burden faced by the power company over the debt, he said: “We had to pay visits to the Air Force base, and we were not only kept abreast with the sad situation at the base itself in terms of the criticality of the infrastructure, as well as the fact that there are morgues out there, and a large number of other critical infrastructure that didn’t have electricity.
“We were told all these. We were shown evidence of why it is important we have a facility that’s strategically, appropriately electrified. Unfortunately, on our own side of the business, we’re being owed a significant chunk of money, about $4 billion plus, for which we’ve not been able to receive revenue.
“We’ve been discussing this for some time now, about seven years that we’ve been at it, but somehow the money wasn’t coming through.
“Sadly, because of the fact that we have a system whereby, as a distribution company, the responsibility of collection lies primarily with us, and remission of that money into a common account, which is excess crude, of course, with that responsibility of it being upstream.
“The gas suppliers, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and other critical market participants. Of course, that has led to liabilities in our books that we’ve been carrying in our balance sheet, and it has made us quite a bankrupt organisation.
“Somehow, we’ve been riding the wave, but it’s been very difficult and challenging, and if we cannot collect, how do we pay our staff? How do we incentivise them to be able to do what they are paid to do? So this unfortunate situation arose, and of course, we woke up to this sad event.
“This is a traumatic day in the life of our organisation, because as an organisation, one of the things we pride ourselves for is the safety of our people first, safety of our assets, and ensuring that we give electricity to our customers alike. But somehow, that has been impaired today.”
Estimating the company’s losses at over N1 billion over the invasion, Adesina described the incident as “a traumatic day” for IKEDC, adding that even though the federal government has promised to ensure the money being owed the DISCO would be paid speedily, operations were disrupted and they had to evacuate the building as the workers were not in good state of mind.
Acknowledging the enormous sacrifices military personnel make for the safety and security of all Nigerians, Adesina commended the NAF leadership for their intervention. “The leadership not only accepted that certain things ought not to have happened, but they also visited us to assess the damage. This level of engagement is unusual and appreciated.
“We’ve gone around the offices, and he has even had the privilege of addressing some of our staff that were injured in the course of the rage that we saw today. So one would want to say that we say thank you, at least, for the response of the leadership, and thank you for the emotional intelligence and empathy that has been shown today in terms of the conversations we’ve had.”
Suing for peace with promise of retribution for the erring personnel, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Adeniran Ademuwagun, who visited the IKEDC headquarters with his team to ease tensions, also appealed to aggrieved staff and those injured.
Speaking after a meeting with IKEDC management, he assured that the incident would not repeat itself, adding that “What happened this morning was quite unfortunate, and certainly it will not happen again”.
