Thirty-five-year-old Usman Sani was an employee of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), until he succumbed to the cold hands of death, on December 24, 2020, after he was electrocuted while on duty. A Senior Assistant linesman with KEDCO in Katsina State, Sani left behind two wives and six children who are now bearing the brunt of his absence as a bread winner.
More than two years after the tragic incident that claimed his life, relatives of Sani told Daily Trust Saturday that KEDCO, the organisation for which he gave six years of service and died in active duty, is yet to settle his death benefits and rightful dues.
Sani’s older brother, Ahmad Sani Dede, vividly recalls the heart-wrenching moment he received a call from the management of KEDCO and was asked to rush to the hospital. There, he met a group of KEDCO staff who he said, escorted him to the accident and emergency unit of the hospital where he came face-to-face with the lifeless body of his brother.
“Overwhelmed with grief, I cried at the sight of my brother’s mangled remains,” he said. Describing the effect of electrocusion on his brother’s remains, Dede said, “Usman’s head was covered in blood, bearing a large gash, while blood flowed from his ears and eyes. His upper body was scorched, and his waist and spinal cord broken. It was truly devastating. Using a KEDCO Hilux vehicle, Usman’s body was transported to our parents’ house, and he was laid to rest the following day at 10am,” he said.
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Staff suffer as Kano Electric fails to settle years of benefits
Dede explained that the management of the distribution company in Kano State had paid the family N200,000 and requested that they fulfil specific requirements to process Sani’s insurance and other benefits. However, two years after the family fulfilled all conditions concerning Usman Sani’s death benefits, Dede, who says he is financially drained from shouldering the responsibility of additional mouths to feed, queried the distribution company’s failure to settle the death benefits.
“Initially, I didn’t anticipate being deeply concerned about the financial strain of supporting three households — my own, my mother’s, and my late brother’s. However, providing for my family, let alone the other two, became increasingly challenging as time passed. Driven by the desperation of hunger, my brother’s wives sought refuge at their parents’ homes,” he said.
Being in possession of his late brother’s phones and ATM cards, he said his deceased brother’s salary account had been credited with his salary for three months after his death. “On notifying the management of KEDCO on the credit deposits, we were advised against using the funds. But later, a Katsina State Shari`a Court permitted us to settle the deceased children’s school fees with the money,” he said.
Daily Trust Saturday gathered that like Usman Sani’s family who have to grapple with the reality of his loss in active duty, and the failure of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company to settle his death benefits, other employees of KEDCO and their dependents are faced with similar challenges. This is amidst the country’s harsh economic condition.
Our correspondent gathered that several staff and dependants of KEDCO staff are demanding unpaid death benefits, the lack of overtime pay for non-essential staff during public holidays or weekends, unfulfilled exit packages, promotion delays as well as inadequate appraisals and increment issues, some of which have remained unresolved for over seven years.
Such a state of affair stands in contradiction to sections 4, 5, 6 and 8 of KEDCO’s Condition of Service which provides for allowances for staff in service as well as compensation to staff and legal dependents of employees upon injury or death.
What the law says
It is essential to highlight that the Nigerian Employee Compensation Act and Nigerian Labour Act guarantee certain rights and protections for workers, including the payment of death benefits, overtime compensation, and other entitlements which KEDCO has failed to honour, over an extended period.
The Employees Compensation Act, signed in December 2010 by then President Goodluck Jonathan, after being passed by the National Assembly, is designed to ensure that employees in both public and private sectors receive adequate and timely compensation in the event of accidents that may occur while carrying out their official duties.
Section 17(1) of the Act 2010 states that, “Where death occurs from the injury of an employee, compensation shall be paid to the dependents of the deceased.” Additionally, section 17(1)(a)(i) further specifies that “where the deceased leaves dependants wholly dependent on his earnings, a widow or widower and two or more children, a monthly payment of a sum equal to 90percent of the total monthly remuneration of the employee as at the date of death shall be paid.”
Furthermore, according to Section 9 (8) of the Nigerian Labour Act, the termination of a worker’s contract by death, “shall be without prejudice to the legal claims of their representatives or dependents.”
This is as section 8.3.3 of the KEDCO Condition of Service specifies that “upon death or permanent disability of an employee, his legal dependent(s) shall be paid five times the annual terminal salary of the deceased or disabled employee as compensation.” This, according to the staff condition of service is in addition to the N100,000 the company will contribute for burial expenses for an employee or an immediate family member, as in the case of late Usman Sani.
However, Sani’s family told this reporter that apart from the N200,000 paid to them by the management of the distribution company, and his three-months salary which was credited to his bank account, no other compensation has been made to the family.
Section 5 and 6 of KEDCO’s Condition of Service also provides for employees’ payment of travel and housing allowance as well as all approved unspent leave due to an employee upon resignation, termination or retirement from employment. These issues have, however, remained contentious as several staff under the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) say the situation has remained unresolved.
Union berate disco for disregarding staff complaints
Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) has been embroiled in a contentious dispute with its workers as allegations of unpaid benefits and unresolved issues continue to plague the company.
The management of KEDCO, had on multiple times convened meetings with the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEC), an affiliate of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUC), as well as the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) to address and resolved issues. The situation has however remained unresolved even as the unions confirmed that the company was yet to fulfil its obligations.
The litany of grievances put forth by the SSAEC and its sister union, NUEE, include long-standing issues such as unpaid death benefits, non-payment of overtime during public holidays or weekends for non-essential staff, unresolved exit packages, promotion and upgrade disputes, as well as problems related to appraisal increments. Some of these outstanding payments, according to the unions, have remained unresolved for over seven years, exacerbating the frustration of affected employees.
Expressing their frustration, the Secretary-General of SSAEC, Babagana Isa, lamented that their complaints had been consistently disregarded by the company, adding that despite their appeals, no intervention or negotiation was forthcoming from the Kano Electricity Distribution Company.
He said there were concerns brewing, amid rumours of the company’s sale, adding that “there are fears that any change in ownership may result in employee dismissal without resolving our outstanding issues.”
But the Vice President of NUEE, Northwest chapter, Comrade Ado Gaya, while speaking with this reporter, acknowledged that the current Managing Director of KEDCO, Ahmed Dangana, had made pension payments to some staff members, but not other compensations.
“While the exact figures remain unknown, the previous administration of the KEDCO that was changed in December 2022 appear to be primarily responsible for the non-payment of benefits,” he said.
Gaya explained that despite this partial resolution, other crucial entitlements, such as death benefits and transfer allowances remain unpaid. “But as a union, we are committed to resolving these outstanding matters and we will raise the concerns during upcoming meetings with the management,” he said.
We will settle debts in batches – KEDCO
When contacted, the Management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company told Daily Trust Saturday that the company was aware of the outstanding staff welfare debts and is taking steps to address them.
According to the Head of Corporate Communications at KEDCO, Sani Bala Sani, a payment plan has been initiated to settle all debts in batches. “With the arrival of the current management, as a result of the takeover by Fidelity Bank in 2022, KEDCO has initiated a payment plan to settle the debts in batches despite the limited resources available. Late payments might have occurred for individuals who were not included in the batches that had already been paid,” he said.
This publication was supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) through Stallion Times under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
