by Culled From Vanguard by Uche Ikechukwu, Calabar
There was mild drama on Monday in Calabar following the protest by Staff of Cross River Water Board Limited, CRSWBL, as they barricaded the entrance of their premises to protest the reinstatement of the Managing Director, Mr Victor Ekpo.
The protesters carried various placards with inscriptions like ” Ekpo’s reinstatement would further worsen the “near comatose” water board, “Ekpo’s return would be a Disaster” “The former MD’s style is inhumane ” ” He will kill us all this time “
Others include: “Don’t bring back Ekpo”, “Cross River Water board is dead completely”, “Cross River Water board staff cries for help” and Ekpo doesn’t have what it takes to manage water board amongst others.
The workers told Vanguard that Mr. Ekpo first stint as the Managing Director, did not only plunge the company into debt of over 800 million but also failed to provide portable drinking water to the people.
The workers who also alleged that Ekpo high-handedness was unacceptable added that he (Ekpo) lacked the managerial skills to manage the Corporation.
Speaking with Com. Okoi Inyang, State Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, who spoke on behalf of the protesting workers, disclosed that the debt profile of the utility company currently stood at over N800 million.
His words : “We are over 600 staff across the nine water stations across the State and we are here saying, we don’t want Ekpo as our Managing Director again.
“What had been his impact to water board? Since March 2021, our intake pump broke down and have not been replaced since; as such, we have not provide clean and potable water to the people since then.
“Rather than fixed the problem, he (Ekpo) went to sink boreholes in two of our stations just to provide skeletal services to the people.
“As we speak, these boreholes have also broken down. This is the same situation in the nine other stations.
“The board is owing contractors who supply chemical and other inputs over N800 million while staff are also been owed entitlements running into millions of Naira, yet, he collects monthly impress of N4 million,” he said.
Inyang further explained that they were not against the government appointing a Managing Director, but it should not be Ekpo.
“We want a technocrat who can turn around the fortune of the board and not Ekpo who knows nothing about managing a corporation like this,” Inyang said.
When contacted, the reinstated Managing Director, Cross River state water Board Limited, Victor Ekpo attributed the resistance of the workers to his appointment to his stance against corruption in the board.
He maintained that through his managerial ability and prudent management of scare resources, he raised the revenue profile of the board from N600, 000 to N9.6 million monthly.
“Our wage bill was about 40million and we were generating barely 600, 000 naira when I came as Managing Director , but I raised that to about 9.6 million monthly, this I achieved within 8 months and i have also been able to fight, headon, the corruption level at the board.
“This is what they are against; they want things to continue in the old order and I am determined to fight this and resuscitate the board to the level of delivery water to the people of Cross River,” he said.
Vanguard learned that Ekpo had earlier resigned his position as Managing of the Water Company to contest the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for Cross River Southern senatorial district and his reinstatement has been approved by Gov Ben Ayade.
