Jonathan's Family Firm Kakatar sacks 1,000 Staff
Kakatar Construction Company, one of the biggest indigenous construction
companies in Nigeria owned by Mr. Azibaola Robert, a cousin to former
President Goodluck Jonathan, has laid- off over 1,000 workers.
According to report, the employees
were disengaged in batches, first in June and last month following the
company’s inability to keep” thousands of the workers who merely
report to work daily without doing anything.”
Kakatar is being owed over N10 billion
by the Federal Government for various construction projects. On top of
that, its accounts were frozen by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) in the wake of investigation of the operations of a
sister company, OnePlus Holdings, over a $40 million pipeline security
contract.
In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) alone, Kakatar is building
infrastructure for Maitama Extension and Kyami Districts, as well as the
Karshi-Apo Expressway which is expected to help decongest traffic into
the FCT from the AYA/Mararaba axis.
The source however commended Kakatar for keeping its workers for
several months, and for continuing work on projects long after other
construction companies abandoned their sites and laid-off thousands of
workers.
The source lamented that Kakatar’s sack of the workers was bound to
negatively affect the economy, saying, “this is one indigenous
construction company that had begun giving the so-called big names in
the industry nightmares.”
When contacted, Kakatar’s Media Manager, Mr. Austin Ekeinde, said that
the company is rationalising its operations but declined to confirm
the number of workers affected, saying it was “management’s economic
decision.”
He said: “We are not the first construction company to lay off workers.
Even banks have been disengaging their workers, so I wonder why this is
of particular interest to your newspaper.”
On the alleged freezing of the company’s accounts, Ekeinde said he was
unable to confirm the information but said that Kakatar has faced
challenges from the EFCC on an issue that had nothing to do with it. He
also confirmed that like several construction companies, the Federal
Government was indebted to Kakatar, but declined to disclose the
amount.
Source: Authority Newspaper.
Comments
Post a Comment