Tension, which may snowball into a major industrial crisis if not quickly nipped in the bud, is mounting in the Ibadan zone of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. The alleged nonchalance of the zonal management to the on-going promotion exercise, particularly as it affects staff of the Marketing Department, appears to be the major cause of the discontent.
In conformity with the directive of the former Managing Director of the company, Engr. Joseph Makoju, that all deserving members of staff should be promoted, the exercise was billed to begin with an aptitude test to ensure transparency and promote merit. This criterion, however, was allegedly jettisoned due to persistent pressure from a powerful clique within the organisation. Career officers who rose through the ranks and feared that this criterion would jeopardise their interest, were reported to have kicked against it. Consequently, they allegedly resorted to bribing highly placed officials both within and outside the organisation in a bid to have their way.
“Members of staff who are ‘fast enough’ and have imbibed the ‘Nigerian way’ of doing things have given out money just to secure promotion. Others have been piling pressure on their privileged godfathers or godmothers for no other reason but to be included in the list of workers to be promoted,” lamented a PHCN staff who pleaded anonymity.
To worsen matters, officers of the company’s Human Resources Department saddled with the responsibility of determining those that would make the final promotion list are also alleged to have compromised their positions, succumbing to financial inducement or the wiles of female staff willing to pay in kind.
A more pathetic situation exists in the Marketing Department, where about 500 staff are said to be eligible for promotion from the rank of Officer II to Officer I but management is reportedly prepared to promote only 30. This category of workers’ grouse is that all officers of the same cadre in other departments within the same establishment are allegedly billed to benefit from the promotion that would soon be released.
Threatening fire and brimstone should the zonal management go ahead with its decision, angry workers are seeking the prompt intervention of the new Managing Director, Engr. Suleiman Bello, to ensure that all those who are qualified, and don’t have pending cases against them, are promoted.
In a telephone conversation with this magazine, the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Ibadan Distribution Zone of PHCN, Engr. Kolawole Oni, dismissed the allegations as preposterous, ridiculous and unfounded. According to him, the promotion exercise was conducted in a transparent manner, using both the personal evaluation records of the officers and the result of the interview to compile the final list of those to be promoted. He said the in-house unions closely monitored the conduct of the exercise and would have cried foul if they had discovered any hanky-panky. Oni said promotion in any organisation largely depends on existing vacancies and decried the idea of running other people down in order to justify one’s inadequacies.
Report By Stephen Oni.
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