The Managing Director, Benue Investment Property Company, BIPC, Alex Adum has said some of staff the company were laid off to pave way for the overall development of the company.
He said it was also aimed at returning the company to the vision for which it was founded.
Adum had on resumption of office in August 2019 sacked 44 out of 204 staff of the company citing redundancy and insisting that more heads will roll.
While some of the sacked staff have approached the courts to seek redress, some others have declared a media war on the MD using the social media to whip up serious sentiments.
As the news of the sack was trending on the social media, it however generated much concerns and criticism from people of the state many of whom accused the management of “Mindarizing the company” a situation which compelled the MD to respond to put the records straight.
Briefing journalists in Makurdi on Tuesday, the new BIPC boss who insisted that the company was not a mass employment company explained that he disengaged some staff because they had no clear mandate to work for the organization.
He emphasized that BIPC was established to help in the speedy development of the state especially in the area of commerce and industries, “but most of them have no schedules”.
He said the company which had 66 staff as at 2016 out of which one died and three were forced to exit, suddenly increased it’s workforce from 66 to 204 between 2016 and 2018 without a commiserate need for the staff.
According to him, the arbitrary employment did not only shoot up the wage bill but also caused several challenges particularly liquidity challenge.
He disclosed that on assumption of office, BIPC had 50 staff in its guest house in Makurdi which has only 25 rooms with personnel cost of N4.1 million monthly.
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“A serious business man will just liquidate the guest house. I have two choices; to liquidate BIPC, even at that jobs will be lost, or we can liberate and retool the company, lay off a few redundant staff to save the company.
He added me that the huge financial burden workforce has placed on the economy of the state was such that if allowed to stay, the company would die gradually.
Adum who stated that he had promised not to build on a wrong foundation said that more staff will be disengaged saying a situation where over N130 million worth of salary is expended on 204 staff alone was counter productive especially in a situation where income of the company is below expectations.
Reacting to allegations that only people from Minda, (a political extraction where the state Governor, Ortom hails from), were being employed and not laid off, Adum exonerated the governor, insisting that “Ortom and former governor Suswam did not influence employment of people from their local governments at the company.
Mr. Adum who reiterated his commitment to make BIPC work said the retrenchment is not targeted at any local government area or individuals.
“We will not succumb to people using the social media to blackmail and deter us from doing the right thing. He said with the retrenchment, the wage bill has dropped from N130 million in August 2019 to N42 Million.
The Managing Director called for patrotic partnership from business men and all Benue citizens to ensure that the vision and labours of the visioner, first civilian Governor of the state, late Aper Aku, is not killed.
Alex Adum was appointed Managing Director of BIPC by Governor Samuel Ortom on the 20th of August. The press conference was tagged, “Perception is not always Reality, there is an inherent narrative at BIPC.”
