Members of the National Assembly have visited the foremost DisCo in sub-Saharan Africa as part of its annual statutory functions to assess privatised government assets.
The oversight visit which was conducted in partnership with representatives of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), was led by the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Senator Emmanuel Udende. It provided an opportunity to discuss the current state of operations and the pressing challenges faced by the company.
In her own remarks, the CEO Ikeja Electric, Mrs. Folake Soetan, outlined some of the company’s achievements and areas where support is required, “Since privatisation, our story has been that of transformation. Today, we power over 1.2m households in Lagos, have modernised our injection substations, and metered 80% of our customer population which has helped reduce the long-standing concerns about estimated bills. With our digital transformation road map, interaction with our customers is faster and our processes more streamlined.
“Internally, we have invested in staff development and promoted a strong safety culture to ensure productivity. Currently Ikeja Electric systems and processes are certified, which is implied through the ISO 9001 2015, Quality Management System; ISO 14001 2015 Environmental Management System; ISO 45001 2018 Occupational Health & Safety Management System. Beyond electricity, we have also taken steps to give back to the community that we serve through sustainable projects, health care and most importantly, youth empowerment. These initiatives have demonstrated our commitment to improving their quality of life of host communities.”
She however appealed for support and collaboration from the government and relevant stakeholders to invest in the modernization of infrastructure which will help to combat meter bypass and energy theft, “This investment is crucial to enhance our capacity to deliver quality service and meet the growing electricity demands of Nigerians. We are committed to ensuring that our customers receive the best possible service. However, we cannot achieve this without the necessary support to upgrade our infrastructure and tackle energy theft.”
Senator Emmanuel Udende, applauded the level of progress recorded by Ikeja Electric since 2013 and declared the readiness of the committee to give all the support required. He also encouraged the management to keep working towards ensuring improved and more reliable services to customers within their network
“The strides and innovations recorded in 11 years post privatisation are quite commendable, especially in your digital transformation technology. We applaud the investments in infrastructure and the team that has helped to bring energy to life so far. All these have helped to position IE as the leading DisCo. We acknowledge the challenges and pledge our unwavering support in surmounting them.”
