Tinuade Sanda
NewsPOnline Nigeria reports that the Board of Eko Electricity Distribution Company has removed Dr. Tinuade Sanda from her position as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer
In a letter signed by the company’s Chairman, Dere Otubu and seen by NewsOnline Nigeria, the company explained that the decision was due to a directive from the industry regulator, NERC.
“We have received a directive from NERC stating that all staff working for the utility must be employed directly by the utility, bound by applicable service conditions that are applicable to the employees of the utility, and paid through the utility’s payroll.
The Disco is obligated to comply with these directives due to the powers of NERC as stipulated in the Electricity Act 2023. In compliance with the aforementioned directive, all seconded staff from WPG Ltd are being released by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc and returned to WPG Ltd.
Accordingly, you are hereby relieved of your role, office, and position at Eko Electricity Distribution Plc effectively immediately, and returned to your employer, WPG Ltd.”
NewsOnline Nigeria also obtained a copy of the letter from NERC titled ‘Alleged Ghost Workers In Eko Electricity Distribution Company – Call For Investigation’, wherein it instructed the distribution company to “ensure all existing WPG secondees involved in the loss of revenue to EKEDC in this matter are withdrawn back to WPG,” indicating that all WPG staff seconded to Eko DisCo should be removed.
WPG is the core investor in Eko DisCo.
NewsOnline Nigeria understands that other executives in the company who were seconded from WPG were also affected by the directive.
Meanwhile, NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the decision may have stemmed from internal management conflicts within the company over leadership positions.
Eko Electricity Distribution has been facing inadequacies and the absence of optimal service provision for some time, with customers often complaining about the company’s inefficiencies and struggles.
It was gathered that EKEDP’s struggles are partly caused by the significant corruption in the organization, which involves top management staff members. The staff members linked to the infractions have been accused of aiding ghost workers in the company and earning millions of Naira from the dubious dealings.
A report monitored on Sahara Reporters by NewsOnline Nigeria quoted sources to have said that the exact amount of money the management staff members fleeced the company could not be ascertained. However, they said it would be between N150 million and N300 million with a hefty chunk of it linked to one Wola Joseph, the EKEDP’s Chief Legal Officer, CLO.
According to the report, the EKEDP Chief Legal Officer was linked to the employment of a family friend who presented a fake certificate.
According to these sources, she was the company’s Chief HR at the time and despite the knowledge of the board of the company, the matter was swept under the carpet. The company’s board members include Dere Otubu, the Chairman.
Similarly, some members of the board have been said to be shielding Wola and preventing any form of corruption investigation from getting to her, despite complaints from company workers and evidence linking her to some atrocities.
“The leadership of the EKEDC (EKEDP) has been unfair to the staff and whistleblowers who have reported Wola’s many atrocities. The MD, Dr Tinuade Sanda has kept quiet all along as Wola tramples on people as she wants in the company because she knows she’s covered,” one of the sources revealed.
Displeased with the fraud in Eko Disco, Concerned EKEDC Staff in a petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), raised alarm over “the deliberate cover-up of fraud discovered against the Chief Legal Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Wola Joseph Condotti by the Board and Management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company.”
Stating facts on the fraud, the Concerned EKEDC Staff in the petition dated 13th March 2024, noted that: “EKEDC has been fraught with a lot of fraudulent activities and so many cover-ups have happened like the recent one involving the Chief Legal Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Wola Joseph.” The petition added that “Wola Joseph is the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of EKEDC, an officer that is supposed to be of respect, which is to uphold law and order, but instead, the office has been abused by the CLO since 2013 for personal use and gains.”
The petition said, “She has been involved in different atrocities, but the recent one is the use of ghost workers both those that never worked with EKEDC and those that had left the system but continued to receive salaries and benefits.”
“This one has cost the company almost N100 million. It was established clearly that two of the people that were used to perpetuate this fraud never worked in the company while another two continued to get paid after their resignations upon the CLO’s instructions and suspicious confirmations that they are still within the system.”
“She engaged the two ghost workers for 3 years (until she was caught), and confirmed them for salary payment every month. She used the secondment arrangement which involves one of the former directors of EKEDC, and a popular lawyer in Nigeria,Mr George Etomi, who is assumed to be of good repute, but now we can’t tell as to his reputation if he could also be part of the cover-up”.
The petition sighted by NewsOnline Nigeria added that: “The CLO was caught while trying to increase the salary of one of the ghost workers.”
Making requests, the petitioners called on the “Public Petition Committee to help protect our company so we can have an entity to fall back on in some years’ time. If we continue like this, the CLO who has continued to engage in some fraudulent acts, will continue, and the board will continue to protect her and cover her up”.
The petitioners called on the Commission to “(i) investigate the fraud. (ii) bring all culprits to book, all those directly involved in perpetuating the fraud. (iii) investigate the total actual money the CLO defrauded the company and recover every penny.”
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