By Nelson Ogbu
Disengaged employees of Abuja Electricity Distribution Plc (AEDC) have rejected the company’s response to their formal demand for a review and enhancement of exit compensation, describing it as evasive, incompetent, and symptomatic of deeper institutional decay within the power utility.
The affected workers, who are represented by P. H. Ogbolé, SAN & Co., said AEDC’s reaction falls far short of the seriousness required of a company confronted with grave legal and social claims from former employees.
AEDC had responded to the workers’ solicitors via email, rather than through a formally served letter acknowledged by stamp or receipt — a move the disengaged staff say underscores the company’s lack of seriousness and accountability. According to the workers, such conduct further validates the concerns already raised by their legal representatives, led by P. H. Ogbolé, SAN, about AEDC’s approach to due process and industrial relations.
In the email response dated January 29, 2026, AEDC merely acknowledged receipt of the demand and requested time to “review” the issues raised, without committing to any clear timeline for resolution. The former employees argue that the open-ended request mirrors the same arbitrariness with which about 800 staff were disengaged without justification late last year.
According to the affected workers, their disengagement was carried out under a purportedly non-justiciable agreement allegedly entered into with a compromised in-house union—an agreement they say is riddled with loopholes and was exploited to enable victimisation. They further allege that the process failed to state the exact number of staff to be affected and was executed without any stakeholders’ meeting, despite the fact that many of the disengaged workers still had several years remaining before retirement.
“This sector is already notorious for structural unemployment. To throw out experienced staff without justification or consultation is not only cruel but economically reckless,” one of the affected employees said.
The workers further accuse AEDC of acting with impunity, noting that the same culture of incompetence and disregard for due process evident in their disengagement is what customers within the company’s franchise area have endured for years—manifesting in poor service delivery, estimated billing, and unresolved complaints.
Unimpressed by AEDC’s response, the disengaged staff—through their solicitors, P. H. Ogbolé, SAN & Co.—say they are now mobilising for immediate legal action, insisting that the company’s failure to provide a definite timeline confirms bad faith.
They warned that the impending court action, to be initiated at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, would go beyond compensation claims, as they intend to expose internal practices and under-dealings within AEDC that, according to them, would “shock the Nigerian polity” once judicial proceedings commence.
As pressure mounts, industry observers say the unfolding legal battle—being driven by senior labour counsel P. H. Ogbolé, SAN—could reopen uncomfortable conversations around labour rights, corporate governance, and regulatory oversight in Nigeria’s privatised power sector, a sector already under intense public scrutiny.
For now, the disengaged workers insist they will no longer wait indefinitely.
“The courts will decide,” one source said. “And Nigerians will finally see how this company really operates.”
