COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for businesses to survive with operators concerned about what the future holds for companies after the pandemic.
However, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Dr Jamil Isyaku Gwamna, in this interview said KEDCO was surviving the windstorm.
It is obvious that COVID-19 has been the biggest challenge for companies, how is it felt in KEDCO?
As a business strategist and manager of resources, challenges are part of business but I tell you no one wishes to have COVID-19 as a challenge, not even the government of developed nations.
The impact of COVID-19 has been comprehensively devastating; it’s like an earthquake of record magnitude on the financial and other sectors of human existence. So, we as a company have got our own fair share of the impact of the pandemic and we are working to stand against the storm though it’s been tough so far.
What are the decisions or steps so far taken as a company?
For a company that leverages physical contacts to carry out businesses of any sort, you will understand that we really had to make tough operational decisions to survive as a company while keeping the safety of both staff and customers as topmost priority.
So we stuck to the COVID-19 protocols all through.
In spite of the COVID-19 challenge, we have continued to invest in maintenance and network expansion and this is why customers are seeing more improvement and stable supply.
After this pandemic, we will come out more refined in service delivering that meets best global practice.
Do you see companies in Nigeria surviving this pandemic?
It depends on a lot of factors. Today many businesses have already folded up while others are struggling to survive while begging the governments to bail them out. This is it and we have to face it.
The truth of the matter is that many of these companies won’t survive the pandemic.
If you see companies asking for bail out and other palliatives, please understand with them it is not easy because they have staff that have families that need attention. But as an optimist, I like to advise companies to always be positive, fashion out ways of survival and keep hopes alive.
How is the welfare of employees at KEDCO and customers during his pandemic era?
COVID or not, KEDCO’s staff are my asset. We are family and you know family watches out for one another. I don’t joke with the welfare of my staff.
We are working tirelessly to see that everyone who is connected to KEDCO in one way or the other benefits from our partnership. We provide a series of palliatives to staff as well as ensure prompt payments of salaries.
For the customers, the kind of improved supply they have enjoyed in recent times in spite of COVID-19 shows that we are really committed to helping them recover quickly especially the small-scale businesses and operators of other agro-allied businesses.
What are the greatest challenges facing KEDCO?
The major challenges we are facing now is the issue of collection or poor attitude to payment of bills. Some customers pay in percentages even though we render services to them in full and bill them based on their consumption and we keep improving while others don’t even want to pay.
With such kind of attitude and the economic sabotaging efforts in vandalism, installation theft, meter bypass, illegal connections and others, then you will discover that there is really a challenge for KEDCO but we are working on them.
What message do you have for KEDCO’s customers?
To all our esteemed customers, I will say to them that they mean so much to us and without them we will be out of business.
I appeal to them to help us by paying their bills in time and in full to help us sustain our reforms and improvement in supply. We can’t do everything right without them.
We also have noticed a trend of transformer vandalism and transformer oil theft; this is an act of sabotage and we condemn such in its entirety and urge the public to help us report suspected attempts to cause economic loss to KEDCO.
The kind of relationship I want to see between KEDCO and its customers is beyond cordial
What are the strategies for DisCos to survive in the interest of the power sector?
I urge all companies in the power sector to be patient and prudent knowing that we are working to fast-track development and economic prosperity for our nation.
Also, I wish to call for more awareness and sensitization drive so that our numerous customers can be on the same page as us in terms of taking responsibilities for the services we render to them by paying their bills in full and in time.
Many people see DisCos as enemies but we are the biggest partners that provide satisfaction to them always and deserve to be happy too. So there is a need for awareness to bring them to the understanding that we are partners in progress.
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