The Nation Newspaper

Tag: customers

  • FCMB empowers 644 customers

    FCMB empowers 644 customers

    First City Monument Bank (FCMB) yesterday delighted and empowered new set of 644 customers with cash and various exciting gifts. The winners emerged at the third draws of the bank’s ongoing bumper reward scheme tagged, ‘’FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 4’’.

    Speaking on the latest draws of the promo, the Executive Director, Retail Banking of the Bank, Olu Akanmu, said the electronic selection of the winners took place at the regional and zonal levels of the Bank across Nigeria and was witnessed by officials of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Consumer Protection Council, thousands of customers of the financial institution and other dignitaries.

    He said that while four lucky customers were rewarded with the sum of N1 million each at the regional draws held in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu and Ogun states, 640 others smile home with LED televisions, generating sets, decoders, tablets, smart phones and other consolation prizes.

    At the Abuja & North Regional draw held in Abuja, Pindar Fatsuma Saidu won the star prize of N1million, while Sanusi Amadu was rewarded with the same amount at the Lagos Regional draw which took place at the Agege branch of the Bank in Lagos. In the same vein,  Joy Ottonah Ben emerged winner of N1million at the South-East/South-South draw held at the Garden Avenue branch of the Bank in Enugu, Enugu State, just as Ayodeji Ogedengbe smiled home with N1million at the South-West regional draw in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state.

    The ‘’FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 4’’, which commenced in March 2017 and will end in November, has been designed to provide extra empowerment and create value for customers of the Bank, while

    encouraging financial inclusion and savings culture. It also forms part of the various initiatives of the financial institution to enhance customer experience and reward them for their loyalty and patronage over the years.

  • ‘We‘re innovating ways of providing service to customers’

    ‘We‘re innovating ways of providing service to customers’

    Stanbic IBTC has introduced its Platinum Banking Customer Value Proposition in Lagos. Its Head, Personal Banking, Nkolika Okoli, spoke with Bukola Aroloye about the bank’s revamped exclusive offering and other related issues. Excerpt:  

    Can you tell us what Stanbic IBTC Bank private banking is all about?

    The Stanbic IBTC Platinum Private Banking (PPB) offering is an exclusive platform for servicing our HNI clients consisting mostly of executives in the companies we deal with at the Corporate and Investment Banking and Business Banking levels. Our PPB business is built around our ecosystem strategy, which aims to deliver end-to-end financial services across the spectrum for all our clients covering the corporate entities, the executives that run the corporate organizations, as well as their families. These clients are serviced from exclusive suites located in Lagos (Island and Mainland), Abuja and Port-Harcourt by dedicated and well trained relationship managers as well as our Platinum Support Centre (PSC), which ensures the clients receive top notch service wherever they are. The PSC is manned by experienced transactional bankers who give back up service to ensure a private banking client is never left stranded.

    Private Banking isn’t exactly a new offering from your stable. What exactly differentiates the Platinum Banking from Stanbic IBTC Bank’s previously offered private banking service?

    In reality both are the same. In the Standard Bank Group parlance we use private and Platinum banking inter-changeably. What we have done is to revamp the offering by upgrading the dedicated suites and creating the Platinum Support Centre to ensure that clients in locations where there are no dedicated Private Banking Suites experience the same level of platinum service standards.

    How robust is Stanbic IBTC Bank’s private banking as a niche area?

    Our private banking business is as old as our CIB business. But as an institution, we have always believed that banking is a conservative business. So we have gone about our business in a very quite but professional manner. Our clients can attest to the standard of service they have always received. If you think back, you will remember that IBTC Bank has always been a market leader in the asset management business and our money market funds have been voted the best. These are the backbones of private banking as high net worth individuals (HNIs) have needs beyond transactional banking. So they need a partner that understands wealth management and financial advisory locally and offshore and this is where Stanbic IBTC stands out because with all sense of humility, I daresay ‘we have it all’ in-house, that is, within the group on and offshore.

    Stanbic IBTC Bank has unveiled a customer value proposition for its Platinum Banking service; could you please shed some light on this value proposition and its unique selling points?

    What we did is simply to revamp our offering to suit the needs of the present day HNIs who are busy and have adopted digital habits. The implication is that they make fewer visits to the suites but will rather prefer to communicate with their relationship managers digitally. This is what led to the setting up of the Platinum Support Centre, which ensures clients can reach their transactional bankers to conduct their day-to-day activities remotely and new clients can also be on-boarded remotely. We also refurbished our platinum suites for comfort and to ensure clients can use it for their personal meetings and each suite is staffed to ensure support for the clients. Given the economic recession and high inflation rate, which has seen the cost of living sky-rocket, even HNIs are cutting down on expenses, which include class of travel. So we thought this is a good time to extend a lounge service programme to all our platinum clients and their families so that irrespective of their class of travel locally and internationally, they will still enjoy the comfort and exclusivity of airport VIP lounges for free. Knowing the importance of quality advisory services to HNIs, our relationship managers were re-trained to ensure best-in-class services to our clients. The list is endless and like it’s said ‘The taste of the pudding is really in the eating’. You have to experience the Stanbic IBTC platinum banking service to get the full import of the offering.

    Who are your main target audience for the Stanbic IBTC Bank Platinum Banking service?

    Primarily, we target corporate executives as well as successful business owners and entrepreneurs. We are an organisation with a culture built around ethics and corporate governance; so it’s not just about being wealthy but reputation and credibility.

    Stanbic IBTC Bank has been aggressively pushing a universal banking value proposition in the last few years. Is this just a marketing strategy? How would you appraise your efforts so far in this regard and what exactly is the rationale behind this strategy?

    I think this derives from what we represent as a group. We are a business that offers end-to-end services beyond banking to include asset management, retirement planning, insurance brokerage, trusteeship and legacy services, stockbroking, and so on. This is both at a local and international level being part of the Standard Bank Group. We also have footprints across Africa as the oldest bank on the continent as well as in the United Kingdom. I think it will not be fair to our customers if we limit our offering to them; we are a universal bank, hence the aggressive push to utilise what we have to ensure our customers get the best experience they deserve.

    How does being a member of a full financial services group, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc., a member of Africa’s largest bank standard Bank Group, present value adds and opportunities be it local or international to your private banking clients? 

    Human beings have needs beyond banking transactions and these needs range from business to personal, to family and cover a whole spectrum from financial to lifestyle requirements both for self and family. Nigerians are also very mobile; you will find us earning a living across Africa and in the UK. Stanbic IBTC Holdings, structure provides the perfect platform to fit the lifestyle and behaviours of Nigerians.

    How much of this applies or comes to bear in giving Stanbic IBTC Bank an edge over the competition in providing customised solutions to complex individual needs of your private banking clients?

    As earlier described, the primary need of HNIs is wealth management and helping them to maximise their wealth. This is actually our forte given our historical experience in the money market as well as stockbroking. We draw on our wealth and investment experience to help our customers plan their investment portfolio and where the clients also have investments abroad, we draw on the strength of our parent company, the Standard Bank Group, to meet their offshore needs. So our clients have no need to deal with multiple parties, it’s all in-house from wealth and investment planning to helping them secure their assets under a trusteeship (locally and offshore) to their retirement planning, and many more. We have it all covered under Stanbic IBTC Holdings and this is a great advantage our clients leverage on for peace of mind.

    Stanbic IBTC Bank’s expansion programme has come with the introduction of a wide array of specialised products and services targeted at various segments of the market. Is the market ripe for many of these products such as Personal Teller Machines (PTM) and self service digital branch?

    This is a good question! Remember I had earlier described how clients’ behaviours have changed over time, people now live a more fast-paced life and are adopting digital behaviours. Our Personal Teller Machines and self service digital branch is a response to this. A customer can walk into our full digital branch at Maryland Mall and literally fulfil a transaction end-to-end without any human interaction. You can speak to a teller remotely through a screen for enquiries or help and you can make your cash deposit through a machine. Our clients have embraced these innovations as they are in sync with their lifestyles. We expect to roll out more of these as we digitise our branches and platinum suites.

    Most people are often sceptical about accessing financing from banks because of the hidden charges that trail some of these transactions. How has Stanbic IBTC Bank been able to tackle this challenge?

    Stanbic IBTC Holdings is a fully compliant financial institution with strong corporate governance structures. In addition to this, we hold dear to the time tested values of integrity and transparency. We are not associated with anything hidden as our charges are clearly spelt out in our offer letters. When there is an occasion to revise the charges, we follow the CBN stipulated process to ensure our customers are adequately informed. 

    With every new day comes more innovation in product and service delivery from many of the banks in the country. What measures have Stanbic IBTC Bank taken to ensure that it is not left behind in the innovation race? Are you drawing from Standard Bank’s operations in other markets?

    For us in Stanbic IBTC, it’s about our clients; we are not part of the product race and we rarely push products to customers. Our personal banking business is structured to provide service to specific customer segments, we strive to understand customer needs and behaviours and only come up with products to satisfy these needs. We don’t want our branches pushing products at customers. For us, products are a means of meeting client needs and not an end. However, we are innovating the ways and manner of providing service to our customers. So things like our digital branches, PTM, Bulk Teller Machines, New Mobile Banking App, etc speak to this. It’s good to innovate in order to be relevant, but it’s a very private ‘race’ for us with only our customers as our focus.

    How are you able to design products and services that are targeted at different countries and markets given that the Standard Bank Group, to which Stanbic IBTC belongs, operates in about 20 countries in Africa ?

    Though the Standard Bank Group operates across different countries in and out of Africa, each country has autonomy to create products to reflect the unique environ it operates in. Remember my explanation that the client is at the heart of everything we do and client needs differ across the world; this underpins our product development philosophy. However, we also draw on the learnings across the group to share best practice without losing the need for a local touch.

    Banking is always evolving, and it is more so in Nigeria that is increasingly adopting technological solutions to deliver services across different segments of the economy. Where do you see banking in Nigeria in the next five years in terms of service delivery?

    Digital is the magic word! The cell phone will be the key channel! Any bank that wants to be relevant in the near future cannot afford to ignore the cell phone. I can assure you that Stanbic IBTC Holdings is ready to face this future!

  • Nigeria Re trains customers

    Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation is training its customers on claims settlement to boost their performance, its Managing Director, Lady Isioma Chukwuma, has said.

    She spoke at the training in Lagos for the company’s cedants,  its customers.

    She said the company as part of its reawakening has trained reinsurance managers on how to handle reinsurance business.

    Lady Chukwuma, who said one of the services rendered by the company is providing regular training for its cedants, said the training was held in collaboration with GIC Re of India and South Africa and has been offered free to their cedants.

    She said: “As a reinsurance company, Nigeria Re is known for the regular training of cedants. For years, we have not done it and so we thought that the time had come for us to provide this training, again, for our cedants. This particular session has been targeted for the reinsurance managers.

    “We believe that by so doing, we would have trained them to be more knowledgeable and when they are knowledgeable about what they are doing, we will benefit from it.’’

    Lady Chukwuma added: “They will do better underwriting and less claims will hit the insurance market and less claims will come to the reinsurer. At the end, it will be a win-win situation for everybody. Companies will do profitable business because they are more aware and knowledgeable of what they doing and the reinsurance will also write profitable businesses.

    “Also on rendering good service to our cedants, we have been able to pay a lot of big claims that is in the market. Our cedants are more than ever before confident that we can perform our obligations. We are also happy to have been able to meet all our obligations.‘’

  • Dangote Cement redeems N500m prizes to customers

    Dangote Cement redeems N500m prizes to customers

    The management of Dangote Cement Plc at the weekend redeemed the prizes won by its customers, splashing them with thousands of cement bags and branded containers worth N480 million in its retailers bonanza for season two.

    No fewer than 10 retailers, who emerged as star winners from the company’s West region claimed their prizes at the weekend with some going home with 1,200 bags of cement with 40 ft container and others winning 600 bags with 20 ft containers.

    Amid celebration, members of the company’s management moved from locations to locations in a carnival like procession to deliver the products and containers to each of the winners at their business locations, mostly markets to the surprise of many other traders.

    Leader of the team, Mrs. Funmi Sanni, the West Regional Sales Director, said the decision to take the products to the retailers in their respective place of trade was to prove that the bonanza was not a fluke but real and that no sacrifice is too much for the company to bear for its retailers.

    She explained that the Dangote Cement management designed the bonanza to reward its loyal retailers and help them shore up their businesses.

    According to her, this is why it included containers in the winning package.

    On how the retailers won, the regional director explained that all they need do is to buy up to 300 bags and collect a coupon, fill it and drop in the designated collection box.

    Every week, a draws are held to select star winners. Anyone could win the 1200 bags, 600 bags and certainly everyday some people win 10 bags of cement as consolation prizes.

    The first star winner last week from the region was Mrs. Ganiyat Abiola of Buthayna Nigeria Ltd, whose place of business is the popular Mararaba market in Ilorin.

    The company held a long procession from its  Olorunsogo  mega store  with the trailer load of cement to offload to the winner. Her winning is estimated to cost N4 million.

    The entire market was held up as the procession attracted attention to the fact that a star winner of the bonanza is from the market.

    Reacting, Mrs. Abiola, who has been in cement business for close to 30 years, said it has never happened before that a retailer would win in a promo and the company would come in the full public glare to redeem the price.

    Six star winners, who also won in Benin and Auchi, took delivery of their products and containers in the Edo State capital.

    A winner, Nora Omolara, said his winning was a challenge to other retailers in Edo .

    From there the procession headed to Ibadan, where the street winner, Gbadegoye Anthony, danced to the tunes churned out by the boys brigade band on sighting the lorry load of cements and the container.

    Anthony of Goodness and Mercy Company said he got to know about the promo about one month ago and decided to give it a trial by submitting his coupon.

  • Hubmart stores set to delight customers with new Ikeja outlet

    On the heels of its successful launch of operations on Victoria Island, Lagos, a leading indigenous retail giant, Hubmart Stores Limited, is poised to delight customers and residents of Ikeja and its environs with the opening of a new outlet at 26 Isaac John Street in Ikeja G.R.A.

    The shopping complex will be officially opened to the public on August 11 at 11 a.m.

    The event will be accompanied by a bouquet of activities, such as music, celebrity guest appearances and free giveaways to excite customers. The facility is a masterpiece of retail-purposed civil engineering exquisitely designed to give customers the ultimate shopping experience and set to take shopping to a new level.

    The new store boasts ultramodern facilities designed to create amazing and mind-blowing shopping experience for customers.

    Heading the list of star attractions is the Hubmart food court, which will boast a deli and several other exciting offers. This is located on the first floor of the building for those looking for a quick bite and a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy their favorite meals.

    Shoppers are treated to an exquisite range of products, from renowned local and international brands ranging from household items to dairy, confectionaries, toiletries, groceries and a fresh section in the store proper.

    There is also considerable parking space in the compound to ensure ease of entry and exit of shoppers into and out of the premises. From a casual viewer’s perspective, it seems this store has been designed to be the hallmark of convenient and delightful shopping.

    In a statement, the Managing Director of Hubmart Stores Murat Bektaslar said the shop, the company’s second outlet in Lagos, was immaculately designed with every detail carefully implemented with delightful and exciting customer shopping experiences in mind.

    The company chief noted that the store will serve as a one-stop shop for all customer grocery, cleaning, fresh and household needs.

    He said: “We have created an environment where customers can find everything they want under one roof, get the best quality of ultra-fresh produce and have a delightful, fulfilling and exciting shopping trip. Everyone is invited to come experience the store from 11 a.m on August 11 when the tapes are formally cut.”

    The kids are also not left out.

    The company said there are some innovative kiddy-focused shopping carts and baby trucks to delight the kids as well.

    From interactions with the managing director and walk through the premises, it was noted that even though Hubmart is not the largest retail chain in the country, it was definitely poised to fast become the best retail chain in the country.

    While talking about the citing of the mall in Ikeja, Murat stated that locating the mall in Ikeja was key because, apart from being the capital of Lagos state, Ikeja is centrally located and easy to access from various parts of Lagos. He noted that apart from some of the community development efforts embarked upon, the business was poised to engage and positively impact the local community with the array of initiatives in the pipeline.

    Hubmart stores which prides itself on its Nigerian heritage, superior customer service and excellent quality in the fresh product categories; continues in its quest affirm its mantra of being the best destination for shoppers in the country by providing services that guarantee value for money, delightful shopping, good security and the wide assortment as well as very high quality ultra-fresh products.

    On opening, the store would provide employment to over 150 Nigerians 60% of which would be sourced from the local community, and serve as a source of livelihood to many more via the extended circle of influence on the local communities (suppliers, engaged vendors, etc.).

     

  • Ecobank extends rapid transfer services to customers

    Ecobank extends rapid transfer services to customers

    Ecobank has extended the capabilities of its Rapid Transfer product enabling all bank account holders in Nigeria receive money via the Rapid Transfer instantly from 33 African countries where Ecobank operates.

    With this development, a bank account holder in any bank in  Nigeria, who is privileged to receive transfer of funds from within Africa can now benefit from the Ecobank Rapid Transfer product. Rapid Transfer is an Ecobank proprietary send and receive money transfer product available in all Ecobank location across Africa. This unique product facilitates easy transfer and access to funds across Nigeria and in all countries where Ecobank is present.

    Announcing this new development in Lagos, Head Remittance, Consumer Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Esther Obot, said this is a strategic initiative that expands the reach of the product and allows non customers of Ecobank access the enormous benefits offered by this product. According to her, this is a more convenient way we believe bank customers in Nigeria can be served better.

    She explained that the Rapid Transfer service was conceived by Ecobank out of the need to provide convenient, accessible, and reliable money transfer service for its retail and wholesale customers and non-customers alike. The uniqueness of this product is its swiftness in delivery and accessibility as transactions are consummated instantly at the receiving end. “No matter the bank you have your account, you can receive money through Rapid Transfer” she reiterated.

  • NERC to customers: get DisCos’ approval before buying transformers

    NERC to customers: get DisCos’ approval before buying transformers

    The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has warned individuals and organisations against buying and installing transformers  without the approval of the power distribution company (DisCo) that supervises the community, its Head, Consumer Affairs Division, Hardley Jack, has said.

    Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, he said it was wrong for anybody to bypass the laws guiding the operation of the sector as contained in the Act for the privatisation of the power sector by the government.

    He said the sector may be facing problems such as metering, transformers, and other key components, but it did not give customers the right to do whatever they like.

    He said there are laws, which NERC, the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Bulk Trading Company (NBET), the power generation companies (GenCos), electricity distribution companies and other critical stakeholders in the value chain must comply with for the growth of the sector, adding that actions that are contrary to this, amount to disobedience.

    He said the DisCos can solve the metering problems as they affect them directly. He, however, said that gas, power generation and others should be jointly addressed by the stakeholders.

    He said the Commission is flooded with complaints from the customers, just as the DisCos are battling with the same complaints. According to him, DisCos and the customers need to work together to solve problems as partners.

    The Chairman, MEMCOL Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kola Balogun, said the issue of provision of meters can be addressed if stakeholders in the industry are committed to do so. He said the dependence on foreign meter producers by the power firms makes it difficult for many consumers to get meters.

  • Eko DisCo meters industrial customers

    Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDC) said it has metered all maximum demand (MD) customers within its network in line with the directive of the regulatory body, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    Maximum demand customers are huge electricity consumers such as industrial and some commercial concerns. Distribution companies realise substantial part of their revenues from these customers.

    EKEDC Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Sam Nwaire, who disclosed this during a Town Hall meeting held recently  with customers at the Agbara/ Badagry Business District Area in Lagos, said the firm has metered 6,834 MD customers within its network.

    The NERC on June 11 directed all electricity distribution companies to meter the MD customers and directed all MD customers that  have no meters to stop paying estimated bills.

    Nwaire said the company had completed metering all its MD customers since March 31 within the stipulated time frame. He said the company had metered about 50 per cent residential customers, adding that the company will meet its five-year metering plan when all categories of customers must have been metered.

    He confirmed that residential consumers were not included in the directive issued by the NERC on no meter no payment directive. According to him, the clarification was necessary because some customers claimed that NERC directed all consumers yet to be metered to stop paying electricity bills.

    He said: “We are happy to report that our maximum demand customers have been provided with meters as directed by NERC and are no longer billed by estimation. While we are making concerted efforts to provide meters for all our customers, we will continue to ensure the integrity of our bills and do everything within our mandate to comply with all NERC directives.

    “We, therefore, urge our non-MD customers to please avail themselves of the content of the directive and be rightly guided. Consumers should not misinterpret it to avoid paying for electricity already consumed.”

    Nwaire promised that all unmetered customers would be reached within the stipulated time, noting that it was not possible for all customers to be metered at the sametime because of the huge cost involved. He urged those yet to be reached in the meter roll-out to exercise patience, adding that no customer would be left out at the end.

    He also said Eko DisCo has an established billing methodology approved by the industry regulator for billing unmetered customers, based on a number of factors, which include the customers’ consumption pattern over time and availability of power supply within the particular month for which the customers were billed.

    The EKEDC boss urged communities to be vigilant and guard against activities of vandals in their areas. He said the company would work  with the police to ensure that the suspects and others are duly prosecuted in court.

    Nwaire said the company was only able to recover N4.8 billion out of N6.3 billion owed by customers for the month of May, adding that customers are yet to pay over N1.5 billion, which was part of the electricity consumed in May 2017.

  • Bank customers enlightened on budget, taxation

    The Lead Partner, Tax and Regulatory Services, Deloitte West Africa, Yomi Olugbenro has at a forum in Lagos, educated bank customers on the impact of budget, exchange rate and  lending rates on their businesses.

    The tax expert, who spoke on the theme: ‘’The Nigeria Budget & Fiscal Focus 2017:  “Overview of budget, economic recovery & growth  plan and National Tax Policy”, explained that the N7.44 trillion 2017 budget represents an increase of 23 per cent over that of the previous year in naira terms and explained that dearth of infrastructure and other micro-economic indicators have increasingly made it challenging for businesses to thrive compared to counterparts in similar economies.

    Speaking also on taxation, the ease of doing business, interest rate, foreign exchange market, government borrowing and lending rates, he advised for business owners to seek the right information as it relates to their  businesses while ensuring a clear understanding of policies and systems within the local economy to enable ease of transactions.

    Speaking on the budget, he said: ‘‘The budget is an integral part of the economic recovery and growth plan. While there’s noticeable alignment between the federal government budget and the economic recovery & growth plan, full implementation of capital project is critical to achieving desired developments and recovery.”

    He added that the 2017 budget is a catalyst for economic recovery and is expected to stimulate the economy, build infrastructure, deliver growth and dependent on non-oil revenue and borrowing. Allocations to works, Power & Housing and Transport show serious intention to develop infrastructure 25 per cent of capital expenditure.

    The forum was organised by Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria for select clients of the bank to provide insight on aspects of the budget and its impact to businesses within the Nigerian economy.

    Explaining objectives of the forum, Head, Retail Banking, Standard Chartered Bank, Ebehijie Momoh,  said the primary objective was to add value to clients of the bank.

  • Eko Disco to recover N1.3bn debts

    Eko Disco to recover N1.3bn debts

    The Management of Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc (EKEDCP) on Thursday said that over N 1.33 billion was yet to be collected from customers for their bills in March.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Oladele Amoda, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ consultative forum with Lekki customers in Lagos to rub minds on how to address payment of electricity bills.

    NAN reports that the forum is tagged “prompt payment of electricity bills to enhance effective power supply’’.

    Amoda, who was represented by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Mr Sam Nwaire, said that the company recovered N4.8 billion payment out of N6.1 billion owed by customers for March.

    He said that the company was still battling to recover over N.13 billion debt being owed by customers for the month, adding that such huge debts had affected the company’s major projects.

    According to him, energy supply to the company from the national grid has increased from 150 megawatts to 300 megawatts in the month.

    “This has boosted effective power distributions to customers but yet majority of the customers refused payment.

    “In spite of the quantum of supply distributed to customers in the Month of March, large numbers of customers were yet to turn out for payment.

    “We have equally recorded over N6.5 billion energy consumed by customers for the month of April but we are yet to compute the final payment chats and outstanding customers debt profile since the month is still running,’’ he said.

    Amoda said that the 20 per cent compensation promised to offer anyone who reported energy theft by unscrupulous elements was yielding good result.

    He said that the company recorded high rate of customers who came to report those engaging in such act.

    According to him, we have received over 10 people who came to report those who are by-passing meters.

    “A task force has been set up to inspect houses of consumers and impose a penalty of N1m on anyone caught in energy theft.

    “The company would henceforth commence effective prosecution of energy theft suspects and also publish their names in the national dailies.

    “We appeal to our customers to avoid engaging in by-passing the meters because it’s criminal and punishable under Electricity Regulation Code of Conduct Act,’’ he said.

    On metering, Amoda said that the company had commenced deployment of the first phase of over 600 free pre-paid meters to all Eko disco’s district area.

    He said that the company would ensure that over 140,000 free pre-paid meters are installed in every district areas before the end of the year while appealing to residents to ensure prompt payment of their bills.

    The Eko disco boss said that about seven suspected vandals were arrested in various locations of its operations and were facing prosecution.

    He said that one of them was caught at Thomas Street in Surulere area of Lagos when he was caught in the act by a security guard in the area.

    The EKEDCP helmsman said that the suspect was caught trying to cart away 4core/70mm cable at Eko Club sub-station.

    He urged communities to be vigilant and guard against activities of vandals in their area, adding that the company would work hand in hand with the police to ensure that the suspects and others would be duly prosecuted in the court.

    Amoda said that the measure became necessary against the backdrop of over N1 billion lost to various forms of electricity theft and vandalism in the zone.

    He said that electricity materials, such as cables and wires, had either been stolen or vandalised within its operations.

    He said some areas where equipment vandalism had been rampant included Apapa, Mushin, Ikoyi, Ajegunle and FESTAC of Lagos State.

    According to Mr. Amoda, equipment such as 300KVA and 500KVA are being destroyed in Eko Disco monthly.

    “Vandalism of electricity installations in the areas has become a problem, and within the past four months, the unit has recorded further acts of vandalism of nine transformer substations,” he said.