IKEDC consumers complain of illegal extortion of officers

Nduka

Emeka Ibemere

Despite none availability of electricity supply in more than six months in and around Ifesowapo-Kwaru Community, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, IKEDC, staffs still go about disconnecting the light of the residents.

In the last six months, electricity supply in the community has been at all time low, prompting the youths of the community to issue warning to the IKEDC workers about further mass disconnection of light in the area.

Infact, a visitor to the area would think that the community is under the spell of Sango- also known as the god of fire, lightning and thunder, (the Nigerian symbol of electricity distribution)- ‘that the area would never see power supply’.

The youths on Saturday October 25, during the Ifesowapo Community Development Association (ICDA), end of the month meeting held at Segilola-Valentine Street, Kwaru Family Way, Custom Bus Stop, Ikotun, Lagos State venue of the CDA, meeting warned that henceforth any IKEDC, staff seen disconnecting the residents light was going to explain the reason behind the disconnection when they have not supply light in the last six months in the area.

According to the youths, IKEDC officials visit the area four times in a week for mass disconnection even when light supply has not been experienced.

The youths complained about the use of touts by the IKEDC Abaranje Ikotun Custom Post branch, to extort, intimidate and harass the residents on bills even when there are no lights in the area for months.

They accused the officials of hiring the service of touts, who go about receiving bribes and leaving those who owe while disconnecting lights of those who refused to pay them bribe not to disconnect their light.

Investigations showed that the touts working for the officials go out to hire their ladder with which they use in climbing the electric poles before disconnecting the lights and later pay some percentage to officials after the day’s work. It was gathered that after paying for the hired ladder, the remaining money is shared among the touts and officials. The official charges for non disconnection of light of those owing ranges from N500 to N1000, depending on the amount the consumer-defaulter owes.

Worse, is that the touts are alleged to have forged IKEDC identification cards to do their illicit ‘runs’, as they labelled it and they were said to be leftover staffs who were not PHCN workers before the privatisation and commercialisation of PHCN.

In some cases, the touts at times decide who to disconnect his light and who not to disconnect. Most of them are used to distribute the monthly bills and a day after, go on mass disconnection and smiles to their banks after skinning IKEDC consumers in the area of their hard earned money.

 “If there was light and they are disconnecting defaulters, it’s understandable but when there is no light for months and shamelessly, they still go on with ladder disconnecting wires and taking them to their office is stupid and robbery,” complained a resident who wouldn’t want to give out his name.

The disconnection is worse when they just flash the light for some minutes and the next day, they go on mass disconnection after hiring ladders from their clients and start knocking on people’s doors for bills of that month and failure to present a paid bill, the consumer would have his light disconnected and the wires taken to their offices.

Irked by the brazen extortions going on at the IKEDC Abaranje Ikotun Custom Post branch, the CDA wrote a petition to the branch manager Abaranje Ikotun Custom Post on 22 September, 2014, which was made available to our Correspondent, calling for the replacement of some officers at the Post.

The petition ably signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the CDA, Apostle Awaji Mark, Chairman and Pastor Nduka Joseph, Secretary, including the Vice Chairman, Mrs Adeniyi respectively, highlighted the unprofessional handling of IKEDC jobs by some of the officers and called for their replacement.

“This decision is due to unprofessional manner of dealing with the residents over electricity billings, payments and other ambiguous issues about the workers”, the petition reads.

“The Ifesowapo Community Development Association, ICDA, covers about one hundred and twenty residential homes and we can’t afford to play with issues that will breach the peace of our community. We have already addressed those that are grieved and the entire youths with the promise that we will amicably resolve the issue”.

According to the petitioners, they want the issue to be resolved with advantageously. “We are therefore making it clear that this issue needs urgent attention”.

For Nduka, a resident and the Secretary of the community in personal petition to the Ikotun branch manager, in his petition entitled: “Letter of Serious Complain”, there are out of the sun deals going on in the area.

“I write to bring to your notice, the questionable activities of your marketer. I’m a customer classified under R2 with fairly above 5okilowatt hours per month. A three bedroom flat located in Ikotun axis as in the above address. My monthly fixed bill ranges between N5, 000 to N6, 000”, he stated.

“As a customer, I know my obligation towards my monthly electricity bills. As the Secretary of the Community, I have heard several unpleasant reports about your staff who we have observed that her human relation is becoming worrisome. I have over the years been committed to working with the branch Managers and Marketers posted to your community without any form of inhuman treatment currently experienced as a result of your marketer who feels too arrogant and pompous to work with”.

According to Nduka, on 15^th September, 2014 the particular marketer visited his flat and ordered that Nduka’s flat be disconnected and that the wires were removed from the poles as well as cutting the electric wires into halves and pieces and then went away with some very reasonable length of wires. This was the same action carried out on my neighbour’s flat in the same compound; even when I have paid for the previous month”, he added.

“It’s needless to start listing other members of the community that she has done that to. The question now is, am I indebted. If yes, have I been responding to payment? And if the answer is also yes; and that I have paid up to the month of July, 2014, and then even up to August, 2014 why then should my wires be cut into pieces and then illicitly taken away.” Nduka queried. He alleged that efforts to sort out the issue proved abortive as the marketer insisted that he must clear the entire bill before his wires are returned to him. According to him, the marketer was the same person who argued with him some months ago that no matter what, that consumers living in the community should endeavour to be paying some amount of their debt monthly. Nduka stated that the marketer vehemently told him that there was little or nothing she can do about the epileptic supply of light.

“Now she suddenly insisted I clear my bills before she will restore my light. I’m afraid, if that is the new condition by the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, IKEDC, for the consumers of which I’m one of them. We should have been informed before hand and if otherwise then the marketer should be called to order and then replace my wires not in pieces, but the way they were”, Nduka quipped.  

If you think it’s the only Abaranje residents are complaining of poor power supply and extortion of the IKEDC, hear the cries of those at Okota area of Isolo.

“We have been suffering in darkness for almost a year now for lack of power supply in Niyi Onilari Street, grandmate bustop Ago palace way Okota. We mailed, met and even made several calls to IKEDC concerning this problem and nothing seems to be done about it, yet we do not owe them”, a prominent resident of the area complained.

“All the streets around us in fact the whole Ago area dwells in steady and constant power supply while we get few minutes light once a day and sometimes five minutes light once after six days. We were told five months ago that the feeders were bad and till now it has not been repaired, yet you keep bringing your bills and we pay them. Please what is our offence for this punishment? Help your customers put a permanent end to this darkness and extortion”.

In Oke Ira Ogba area of Lagos, the situation is the same cry of extortion without power supply. According to the residents, the level of corrupt practices at the Electricity Company is inhuman.

The people complained that for eight months, they have noticed what they termed as load distribution. It’s a trend where a particular part of Okeira is highly favoured in the distribution.

“Internal sources at the office explain under secrecy the need to favour an hotelier cum transport union leader hence the redistribution. We are living in darkness while seeing light on the other streets. This is very absurd and may need further exposure at some stage. Save us from these corrupt officers of IKEDC”, community leader in the area stated.

From Abule Odu under Alimosho Lagos State, comes another cry of the IKEDC consumer over bribery and extortion before power is restored to a particular area.

“We are not satisfied with the management of Abule Odu distribution manager, they tell us they are doing load shedding and yet it doesn't stay for 30mins and is gone. We noticed that the person that does the load shedding takes bribe the people he is supposed put off he will leave them on because they gave money he then punishes those that didn't drop money this has been on for months”, . The person they for the load shedding is not a full IKEDC staff, he is a ‘contract staff’. Please something should be done fast. I am talking about Abule Odu under Alimosho Lagos”

In Isolo, another consumer of IKEDC, complained that they are being harassed by a particular staff of the IKEDC, demanding bribe from them

Another cry from the Shasha area Egbeda wasn’t that comfortable. Here consumers are asking of power supply after paying their bills. “Where is the electricity in Shasha? Even on days we are supposed to have electricity it is as good as it been a day off. Please save us from this perpetual darkness”.

In a forum of consumers of IKEDC product and the management of the company in Town Hall meeting recently, most of the complaints centered on power outages, estimated billing, extortion and absence of pre-payment meters.

Funmi Akinyemi of Onigbongbo, Ikeja decried the regime of estimated billing and urged the company to ensure customers are appropriately billed.

 Uzondu Uzoma of Ojota said while his area had been experiencing power outages, they were still receiving bills.

According to Pastor Matthew Adesina of Ikotun, the state of power needs urgent attention. Adesina urged the company to eradicate estimated billings and deploy more pre-payment meters.

For some time, a cross-section of electricity consumers in Lagos under the jurisdiction of Ikeja Distribution Company (IKEDC) has been blackmailed and held hostage by some ‘auxiliary staff’ of IKEDC.

Checks revealed that these staffs are mainly unskilled technicians who go about vandalizing IKEDC’s poles and carting away major cables connecting streets. It was gathered that after days of darkness, they persuade CDAs, and Residents Associations of affected streets to impose a levy on every compound on that street in order to raise money to fix a fictitious major fault.

A source claimed that such tactics was carry over conduit-pipe to extort residents during the era of government owned NEPA and PHCN, however with the privatization of these entities, such an illegal trend must still continued with the assistance of the newly staffs of the IKEDC. Areas affected by the dubious IKEDC staff include parts of Ikeja, Egbeda, and Idimu. Other is FESTAC Town, Ikotun, Isolo, Okota, Oshodi, Iyano-Ipaja, Igando, Ejigbo, Isheri and host of other areas.

Meanwhile, IKEDC management has disassociated themselves from the illicit activities of the Touts at their offices claiming to be staffs of the organisation. Investigation showed that some of the touts are not staffs of the company. Few months ago, the management of Ikeja Distribution Company (IKEDC) warned electricity consumers in Lagos to be wary of ‘former workers’ which it said were defrauding members of the public of their money. The company said it had received complaints that some of its former staff went about extorting money from consumers under the guise of repairing damaged equipment.

The management of the company noted that none of its current and past staff was authorized to make such demands.

“The attention of the management of IKEDC has been drawn to the activities of some former IKEDC staff that have allegedly been extorting money from members of the public under the guise of receiving contribution towards repairs of IKEDC equipment and purchase of prepaid meters,” read an IKEDC statement.

“For the avoidance of doubt, no one including current or past Power Holding Company of Nigeria or IKEDC staff is authorized to make such demands. We urge members of the public to rebuff these impostors and report such to the nearest IKEDC office in Lagos.”

The company also warned that it was addressing the issue of vandalism of its equipment and would not hesitate to prosecute any person found to have been destroying its properties in the state.

“While we are partnering with relevant authorities to ensure that the issue of vandalism, sabotage and theft is addressed, we will stop at nothing to ensure that defaulters are duly prosecuted,” IKEDC stated.

On the epileptic power supply been experienced in the state, the company appealed for understanding saying that it was working on fixing the root cause.

“While we are working hard to review and upgrade our infrastructure, we wish to inform all our customers that the current power interruption been experienced is due to the shortfall of gas supply, grid limitations and sabotage of the system. The company is doing all it can to ensure that the allocated power is equitably distributed amongst our esteemed customers,” it stated. The company asked residents to report any suspicious transactions to it.

Some former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) staff are allegedly extorting money from the public under the guise of receiving contributions towards the repairs of equipment for better power supply.

Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) is one of the 18 successor companies of the PHCN, privatised to address the issues of poor operational and financial performance.

The new management of IKEDC, which covers the northern segment of Lagos State and has 11 business units across eight local government areas located in Abule Egba, Akowonjo, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Ikotun, Ipaja, Odogunyan, Ogba, Ojodu, Oshodi and Shomolu, said the public should be alert and report any attempt by persons demanding payment for purchase of Pre-paid Meters or repairs of its equipment to the authorities.

“It has come to our notice that some former PHCN staff has allegedly been extorting money from members of the public under the guise of receiving contributions towards the repairs of equipment in their localities and purchase of Prepaid Meters. For the avoidance of doubt, no former PHCN staff or IKEDC staffs is authorized to make such demands. We urge the public to rebuff these impostors and report such cases to the nearest IKEDC office, ikedcc@yahoo.com or send SMS to 08174598393 for prompt investigation and resolution,” Pekun Adeyanju, AGM, Public Affairs, IKEDC said.

It would be recalled that in order to make the PHCN work effectively, Nigeria’s Federal Government privatised the sector with the following objectives: Increased access to electricity services, improved efficiency, affordability, reliability and quality of services and promote greater investment into the sector to stimulate economic growth.

Highlighting that the company remained solely responsible for the supply, repairs, and replacement of its equipment, IKEDC’s management said it had since commenced customer education campaigns aimed at creating awareness of on-going efforts to improve service delivery and encourage customer involvement in ensuring the success of the power reform. The company warned that it is a criminal offence for unauthorised persons to tamper with any IKEDC facility or equipment, adding that defaulters will be prosecuted.

Recently, Mr. Adeyanju, said the company had embarked on an upgrade of its customer care centre at its 11 business units to accelerate complaint resolution and respond promptly to issues bordering on metering, estimated billing, shedding and vandalism, among others. He said IKEDC was partnering with relevant authorities to address vandalism of its equipment, but however, urged consumers to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities around equipment in their areas to the law enforcement agencies as well as the distribution company; adding that “it is imperative that people who ask for their rights should first be responsible to the society.”

The new management of Ikeja Distribution Company has been holding inaugural Town Hall meetings across its various locations in its bid to establish a roadmap towards providing uninterrupted quality power supply to all its consumers in the nearest future.