Former employees of Kaduna Electric staged a protest on Monday, demanding payment of their alleged 88 months of outstanding pension arrears and entitlements.

The aggrieved workers carried placards with messages such as:

• “Kaduna Electric, you violated your condition of service”
• “Pay us our 88 months outstanding pension arrears”
• “Our children are out of school due to non-payment of our entitlements”

The group’s spokesperson, Christiana Emmanuel Ambi, a former staff member in the Human Resources Department, Makera Office, accused Kaduna Electric management of acting unjustly by refusing to honor the terms of service under which they were disengaged.

She explained that while the company cited its condition of service to terminate their appointments, it failed to adhere to the same policy when settling entitlements. According to the policy, staff who served between five and nine years are entitled to proportional benefits, while those who served nine years or more should receive 35% of their full emoluments per year.

“Many of us served nine years and above, yet the company insists on paying only 20%, which contradicts the agreement we signed,” Ambi said.

She further revealed that multiple meetings had been held between the disengaged staff, Kaduna Electric management, the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police to discuss payment modalities. However, no concrete action has been taken.

Ambi lamented that the prolonged non-payment has caused severe hardship for many former employees and their families, leaving children out of school and some former staff battling health challenges without support.

The protesters also questioned why Kaduna Electric continues to recruit new staff despite claiming financial incapacity to settle obligations to disengaged employees.

Ambi called on Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, and Managing Director/CEO of Kaduna Electric, Dr. Abubakar Umar Hashidu, to intervene urgently and ensure justice.

The former employees vowed to sustain their demonstrations until all outstanding entitlements are paid and a clear breakdown of payments made so far is provided.

Efforts to reach Kaduna Electric management for comment were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.