On Thursday, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) announced it was laying off 800 workers as part of a “restructuring exercise.” According to the press statement, this was “aimed at delivering improved services to its customers as well as enhanced operational efficiency and excellence.”
However, customers felt the opposite. One customer from Lokogoma expressed frustration, asking, “Is that why we’ve had no power since yesterday?”
Another said, “Did Lokogoma do something to you? I had to shower with bottled water to go to work because there was no light since yesterday at 4 a.m.”
A customer from Apo was even more direct: “I hope the people at the AEDC office in CBN were all fired because the level of service we are getting is unacceptable.”
This is where the story turns. Because, as it turns out, people were being fired. While the company was posting about “value delivery,” it was simultaneously handing out disengagement letters to 800 of its employees.
This wasn’t a “restructuring”; it was a mass layoff. Internal sources told The PUNCH that the original plan was even more staggering: management had initially proposed to sack 1,800 workers. It was only after “tense negotiations” with the unions (NUEE and SSAEAC) that the number was brought down to 800.
The “disengagement letter” itself, a “Notification of Disengagement from Service” signed by the Chief Human Resources Officer, was as cold as the press release. It cited the company’s “ongoing rightsizing process” and informed staff that their services were “no longer required, effective 5th November 2025.”
Just like that, 800 people are now facing soaring inflation and a national power crisis, only now they’re doing it without a job.
The “Why”: A Company in Crisis
So, what is the real story? Why is AEDC, a company that provides an essential service to the nation’s capital, in such chaos? This isn’t a new problem. This is a company in a “deepening crisis.”
AEDC has been under immense pressure from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to improve its abysmal service delivery and cut its massive energy losses. In fact, the company’s operational license has been on the line. Last year, it narrowly escaped regulatory suspension over payment defaults.
This layoff, in that context, looks less like a “strategic transformation” and more like a desperate, last-ditch attempt to cut costs and appease the regulator. It’s a company in survival mode, and its workforce is the first casualty.
The Absurdity of the “Customer-Centric” Response
This brings us back to that bottle of water in Lokogoma. The entire episode is a perfect, painful snapshot of the disconnect in Nigeria’s power sector.
- The Company issues a vague statement about “enhanced operational efficiency.”
- The Workers receive “disengagement” letters as part of a “rightsizing.”
- The Customer is left fuming in the dark, with no power and no answers.
The most telling part? Look at AEDC’s replies to its furious customers on that very Instagram post.
To the user who had to bathe with bottled water, the company’s official account sent a robotic, copy-paste reply: “Dear @i_am__bmg, we regret the experience. please provide us with your full name, precise address, meter number, and contact phone number to enable us to follow-up…”
Another user in a capital city, who hadn’t had light in over 24 hours, wrote: “the sad art of all this is that… the quality of your information is very poor.”
The press release said AEDC was “restructuring for value delivery.” But for its customers and its newly-sacked employees, the company’s message is the same as its service: the line is dead, and no one is picking up.
