Ikeja Electric decries violence against staff

Ikeja Electric (IE) on Monday decried the increasing number of violent attacks on its staff while performing their lawful duties.
Mr Felix Ofulue, the Head, Corporate Communications Unit of the company, expressed the company’s concern in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos.
He said that the company was shocked at the level of violence, citing a recent incident at Akowonjo, Lagos, where an aggrieved woman allegedly stabbed a staff of IE.
“It is quite disheartening that a customer will resort to such levels of violence under any circumstance, to express her grievance without even considering the enormity of the action, which could have easily resulted in murder if the staff had died.
“This is appalling and totally unacceptable,” Ofolue said.
He said that field staff were often attacked by aggrieved customers on matters which were completely beyond their control as workers of a distribution company.
“The company has created several channels for aggrieved customers to present their complaints, but rather, some chose to vent their anger on the workers, which is criminal.
“Some of the issues they are complaining about are beyond our control.
“For instance, there is poor power supply, which is as a result of certain known challenges that cut across the value chain and we are the last arm of the chain.
“These challenges are beyond our control, so there is no point directing your anger at any of our staff because they are also customers of a network where they reside,” he said.
Ofolue said that the aggression by the customers was misdirected since the company could only distribute the allocation it gets from the national grid.
He warned that any customer who attacks any IE staff would be made to face wrath of law.
“We are appealing to customers to exercise patience and restraint.
“We are also appealing to community leaders to sensitize their people,” he said.