Updated: Blackout hits Oyo, Kwara as IBEDC workers begin indefinite strike, mgr says it’s picketing

Updated: Blackout hits Oyo, Kwara as IBEDC workers begin indefinite strike, mgr says it’s picketing 

Some parts of Oyo and Kwara states including Ibadan and Ilorin metropolis have been thrown into total darkness as workers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on Thursday commenced an indefinite strike.

Many residents of Ilorin and Ibadan told Newstrends on Friday that they had not enjoyed power supply before the strike action declared on Thursday.

The electricity workers in Ibadan staged a protest against the sacking of 17 colleagues and the casualisation of workers without formal employment.

The protesters occupied the IBEDC office in the Ring Road area of Ibadan.

In Ilorin, the gates leading to the two business offices of the IBEDC at Challenge area, along Murtala Mohammed Way, and Ojatuntun- Baboko area, Ilorin, were locked by the protesting workers who said they were embarking on the indefinite strike over poor welfare service.

The development came after epileptic power supply to Ilorin had forced the President of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU),Alh AbdulMumini AbdulMalik, to write a protest letter to the management of IBEDC.

AbdulMalik, in a letter dated February 5, 2025 and addressed to the managing director of IBEDC, expressed the dissatisfaction of the people of Ilorin Emirate to the persistent poor power supply to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, since last year.

Some placards placed on the gates of the company have inscriptions such as ‘IBEDC should prioritise staff welfarism, ‘IBEDC, no more half salary’, ‘IBEDC, pay our PFA, union and cooperative deductions now’, ‘Do you expect 100% performance without materials and tools?’

The secretary of the state branch of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), Comrade Ayodele Peters, who confirmed the IBEDC workers’ strike, said that they were being treated as slaves as they were being paid half salary by the management.

“All deductions made by the company such as pension funds, union fees and cooperative contributions were not remitted by the company to the appropriate bodies.

“So, that made it difficult for our pensioners to access their money from the pension managers while our members could not get loans from the cooperative society because the management of IBEDC did not credit the account of these bodies after deduction from the workers salaries,” he said.

Peters added, “The management laid off some workers of the company on Monday while rumour was rife that more workers would get their letters of sack today (Thursday or tomorrow (Friday).

“All these laid off workers would not have access to what the management had deducted from their salaries when they were in service because they have not credited the pension managers.”

But the IBEDC management refuted claims of any ongoing strike, attributing the recent disruption in power distribution to a picketing action by the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) over staff termination.

A statement signed by IBEDC’s Head of Branding and Corporate Communication, Angela Olanrewaju, said some staff members were sacked for poor performance in line with the company’s conditions of service, noting that proper procedures were followed in the termination.