Former employees of Kaduna Electric staged a peaceful protest on Monday, demanding the payment of their 88 months’ outstanding pension arrears and entitlements. The aggrieved ex-staff gathered with placards bearing inscriptions such as “Kaduna Electric, you violated your condition of service” and “Our children are out of school due to non-payment of our entitlements.”
Speaking to journalists, Christiana Emmanuel Ambi, a former employee in the company’s Human Resources Department at the Makera Office, accused the management of breaching the conditions of service used during their disengagement. She said while the company relied on the same policy to terminate their appointments, it failed to apply it fairly when paying entitlements. According to her, the policy clearly states that workers who served between five and nine years are entitled to proportional benefits, while those with nine years and above should receive 35% of their full annual emoluments.
Ambi alleged that despite many of them having served nine years or more, Kaduna Electric insists on paying them only 20%, a move she described as unjust and contrary to the agreed terms. She added that several meetings involving the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police had been held to discuss the matter, but no meaningful action has been taken.
The former staff lamented that the prolonged delay in payment has plunged many of them into hardship, with some struggling to pay school fees or cover medical expenses. They also criticized the company for recruiting new staff while claiming it lacked funds to pay former employees.
The protesters called on the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, and the Managing Director/CEO of Kaduna Electric, Dr Abubakar Umar Hashidu, to urgently intervene and ensure justice. They vowed to continue their demonstrations until all entitlements are paid and a transparent breakdown of payments is provided. Efforts to reach the company’s management for comment were unsuccessful as of press time.
