One if the sacked Kaduna Electric staff has been reported to have fainted twice after receiving the letter informing him of the decision. Asmau Sulaiman, hitherto of the Rigasa Area Office of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, was one of the 530 members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) whose appointments were terminated by the company.

In one of the sack letters signed by the company’s Managing Director, Garba Haruna, and dated January 31, 2017, the firm hinged the decision on a ‘Talent Review’ conducted in 2016.

However, the National Union of Electricity Employees North-West Zone and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Company, “after due and critically review of the performance of the MD” demanded his removal and replacement “in the interest of the company, the Board of Directors, Staff and the four states of their coverage”, namely, Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.

The unions said that on February 1, 2017 the Management of Kaduna Electric decided to confirm only 20% of the employees, terminate 60% and place 20% on additional probationary period of six months, after 16 months on probation since assumption of their duty on the basis of purported faulty criteria using performance, conduct and competence test as reasons for termination.

Asmau Sulaiman was still in a state of shock over her sack during a visit by our reporter to her residence in Kaduna on Thursday night. Some of her colleagues who spoke to our reporter said she slumped immediately she read the content of the sack letter.

“She fainted again as we helped her to come down from the office on the first floor, but she has gotten better now,” one of them, Rilwan Sani, said.

A mother of two, Asmau was said to have been 15 months old in service when she was asked to go.

“I refused to join my husband who is currently working in Saudi Arabia and I just recently relocated and transferred my two children’s school from Kano to Kaduna because of this Kaduna Electric work. This is how they will reward our hard work?” she lamented.

The company, which distributes electricity to Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states, had engaged the services of more than 2,000 staff in August 2015.

There was no immediate reaction from the company on the matter, but a statement posted on the company’s Facebook page by the Managing Director congratulated those whose appointments were confirmed.

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