Pregnant Women At War With Jimoh Ibrahim
The way things are going, shrewd businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim may have conquered many in his quest to be
recognized as one of the very best business heads in the country. But what many don’t know is that the man who is used to taking over dying business concerns may have bitten more than he can chew in his bid to do something extraordinary and get noticed.
The Ondo State-born lawyer has over the years been taking over businesses. Some were successful some, while in others he was outbidded by other companies and had to re-strategize.
If it would be recalled, it was Jimoh who was denied the opportunity to own a bank in Nigeria and had to
move to neighbouring Ghana to found Energy Bank. His determination to win is also evident in the ferocity of his battle to retain his ownership of NICON, Nigerian topmost insurance company in which he had acquired majority shares.
Though the lawyer turned businessman has over the years turned a dogged ,the latest challenge coming the
way of the man that just acquired the former Virgin Nigeria and the late Dele Giwa-founded Newswatch Magazine may have bitten more than he can chew as the current opposition is coming from the pregnant women in his establishments.
The whole drama started some years back when Jimoh Ibrahim started acquiring companies that have married women in their employment ranks. Because he did not want to be viewed as someone who does not want his female staff to raise a family, he was forced to retain them against his better judgment. This, it appears, is now haunting him. Since he came out with a pronouncement reducing the maternity leave of pregnant women in his business empire from 12 weeks to 6 weeks, they have been spoiling for war.
This decision, according to many of the female staffers, is a ploy to force them out of his companies. And many of them are now considering tendering their resignation because they believe that six weeks will not be adequate for them to have fully recovered from the stress of childbirth, while those who are not ready to resign are spoiling for a fight over what they termed as injustice against motherhood.
Jimoh’s draconian rule is coming at a time some women groups are advocating for longer leave period for pregnant women in Nigeria . They want it extended to six months, as is currently being enjoyed by their counterparts in developed countries like the United Kingdom and USA . It is surprising that the man who would do anything to ensure the freedom of his mother from the clutches of kidnappers recently because of his closeness to her will give mothers in his establishments little time to nurture their newly born babies.
If the information at our disposal is anything to go by, the billionaire businessman may have to go back to his drawing board to fashion a strategy to pacify the angry pregnant women in his employment. If not, he will soon be fighting a war he can never win because his mother may team up with the women to fight the injustice.
