ETISALAT’S TROUBLE GROWS…STAFF MAY DOWN TOOLS

Etisalat, one of Nigeria’s telecom companies is in trouble again as staffers morale are at an all-time low over late payment of salaries. The telecom giant which, over the years has struggled with a huge debt profile hanging on its neck is now having serious issues with members of staff especially the low cadre ones over their welfare.

According to one of our sources, Global News can now authoritatively reveal that
a larger percentage of Etisalat’s members of staff are indeed not happy with the company over the company’s inability to promptly pay up staff salaries. We also gathered that staff- especially the ones at the friendship centres – are now literally looking at their jobs without paying proper attention to customers.

We also have on good authority that some members of staff are threatening to proceed on industrial action as soon as possible as many of them are now so disillusioned with the management of the telecoms giant.

Though the Nigerian affiliate of Abu Dhabi-listed telecoms company Etisalat, is said to have paid up its entire debt to banks and contractors and renegotiated the terms of other facilities syndicated to it by a consortium of local and international financial institutions. We also hear the company posted a very impressive profit in the last fiscal year.
Etisalat Nigeria had taken a cumulative and incremental facility in the last four years which now stands at N377 billion, less interests. And according to on our recent investigations Etisalat is gradually coming out of the red but the company needs to look inwards and come up with creative ways of rewarding staff in order to get the best out of them.
Analysts and industry-watchers say the steady rise in profit of the company does not reflect positively on the pay packet of staff in its call centres and others in the low echelon of the company’s ladder as the company is said to be meeting other pressing challenges in need of urgent funding.