A crisis of sort seems to be brewing in Airtel Nigeria. Yes, this is a fact, or how else does one explain the massive resignation of key staffers of the organization.
www.theoctopusnews.com learnt that for sometimes now, important staffers of the organization have been tendering their resignation. First on the list to bade farewell to the telecommunication company was the former General Manager, Brands and Communication in person of Eyitemi Taire. The lady, dumped the company for a more lucrative job at a more business oriented Guinness Nigeria, as Trade Marketing Director.
Those who know will also tell you that the Taire resignation came after Airtel’s former Chief Marketing Officer, Olu Akanmu decided to resign following a face-off with his bosses for their total disregard of Advertising rules by publishing advertisement on some Newspapers without vetting approval from Advertising Standards Panel.
As if that is not sad enough, we were informed that Airtel which has changed name and owner severally seem to be facing the same challenges it faced when it was known as Econet, and this might see it witnessing another buy out again.
Our investigation also uncovered a reality which Airtel would prefer left hidden to members of the public. A source at the organization revealed that “the staffers of Airtel lead a make believe colorful and flamboyant life because they have been conditioned to do so. Most of them can’t sustain their family form their a monthly take home pay because they have to pay their debtors the moment they receive their salary. The life style they are expected to lead is almost out of this world and it is not like the company is paying them a good wage”, the source concluded.
The source, also went further to hint that the firm might be facing a crisis, as not too long ago it sold yet another arm of its Customer Care department to an Indian Information Technology Company Techmahindra, who recently relocated to Abeokuta, Ogun State, where we learnt staffers work in a shanty-like office and are shown little or no respect by their bosses who pay meager salaries to the staffers they recruited after acquiring the Customer Care section, while also maltreating the experienced staffers who they inherited from Airtel due to what we were informed was their disdain toward the seemingly huge salaries they earn.
Another source still within Airtel, disclosed that another disturbing trend is the influx of Indian expatriates that are gradually taking the positions of Nigerians in the company. The Indians, we were told are now supervisors and managers at Airtel call centers and have subjected their Nigerian employees to various work place abuse and degradation, sacking them and replacing them with their Indian friends and family members,” said the source.
Presently, it is so bad for Airtel that a certain Blue Flower, a Public Relations outfit owned by Chindo Nwakanma which handles the image issues of Airtel have been doing so without been paid. An insider in the company who craves anonymity told us that their company often carry out Airtel’s work with money made from other clients, as they only hope and pray that Airtel would pay each time they organize an event for the company. He revealed a case in point, was when Airtel was unveiling its judges for the Nigeria’s Got Talent reality show, according to him, workers of the Public Relations company had to task themselves before they could rent two white Hummer Bumber buses to convey a couple of guests to the unveiling. In fact, the buses were paid for after the event, while two thousand Naira was the amount given to each of the drivers to purchase fuel for the trip from Maryland to Banana Island, Lagos State.
As it stands, the days of Airtel in Nigeria, seems numbered, as presently the word is going, going …
-Innocent Dokuboh
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