Energy Minister To Meet NEDCo Staff Today Over Demand For MD’s Removal

The Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, is scheduled to meet with the leadership of the Northern Electricity Development Company (NEDCo) today, Thursday, February 9, 2023, to discuss allegations of non-performance levelled against the Managing Director, Osmani Aludiba Ayuba, by the staff.

This comes after the company’s staff petitioned the Board, citing instances of ineptitude against the Managing Director. Osmani Aludiba Ayuba, Managing Director (MD) of NEDCo, disclosed that the sector minister is scheduled to meet with the leadership today. “It’s an internal issue the staff have raised. The Board is working to resolve the matter, and it has escalated to the Minister of Energy who is asking for today’s meeting”.

The staff in a petition presented to the Board of Directors of the company, cited among other things the “worse financial performance of NEDCo, lack of a clear strategy for the company, exorbitant sole source procurement of point-of-sale devices and worsening distribution losses,” to back their demand.

They added that the company has retrogressed since Mr. Ayuba took over as the managing director some three years ago. “The net financial loss of NEDCo instead of improving has deteriorated from GH¢315.398 million in 2018 to GH¢392.406 million as of September 2022. The estimated net loss for 2022 is over GH¢400 million. This means NEDCo’s performance deteriorated by at least 24% over the period,” the staff said in the petition.

But the under-fire Managing Director is fighting back allegations of incompetence levelled against him. Mr. Ayuba said decisions were taken in the best interest of the company and called on the staff to exercise restraint and allow the board to address all issues raised. “We are in control, and we know we have taken the best decisions to the best of our abilities supported by the board any untoward is happening,” Mr. Ayuba said.

He added that “they [staff] are talking about the financial performance, Yes, we would like to make profits but in operational areas, we have serious challenges that do not allow us to really make the profits that we want to do.” The staff of the NEDCo on Wednesday, February 8, partially withdrew their services at all their operational areas effective.

The industrial action is due to the failure of the Board of Directors to meet their demand for the removal of the Managing Director. Currently, all field services have been suspended except for emergency situations and power vending.