Days after a rope access technician working with Candix Engineering Nigeria Limited, Idatonye Dan-Jumbo, accused a Supervisor in the company, Monday Ojobon of extorting and intimidating him, another rope access technician, Victor Apiafi Allison has also accused Ojobon and another supervisor, Randolph Briggs of extorting him too.

In this exclusive interview with Kristina Reports Correspondent, Clariza Allison, the Candix staff expressed his pain and struggle with incidenting the extortion and attracting intervention from the management, lamenting that he alongside his colleagues are allegedly left at the mercy of Ojobon. Dive in!

Kristina Reports: Good morning, Sir, please introduce yourself and tell us your profile and where you work.

Victor Allison: My name is Victor Apiafi Allison and I work with Candix Engineering, I’m a rope access technician.

For how long have you been working?

I’ve been working for over five years now with Candix Engineering Nigeria Limited.

Is it true that there are cases of extortion, bullying and threat to life in your place of work?

That is true. Our supervisor has a means of extorting money from us. What he does is he stopped us from signing our timesheet and also stopped us from clocking the machine which the company has just as other workers clock in same machine. But we, the rope access technicians do not. What he does is that at the end of the month we receive twenty days’ salary because our salary is per day. He then called us on phone and told us that we didn’t work up to twenty days that we should return four days for him which is about N60,000. Sometimes, N30,000 which is two days, other times N60,000 and each time we refuse to give him the money he will stop us from working. He will substitute us with his boys that he brought from Port Harcourt they will be working and we that are staff of Candix will be at home.

But who is this your supervisor?

They are actually two of them; Mr. Monday Oritseshola Ojobon and Randolph Briggs, both of them are rope access supervisors.

But why will they be doing this to you guys? Is your management aware of all this?

The thing is that if you refuse, he will tell you that there is no work and when he tells you there is no work there is nothing you can do because our work is “No work No pay”. So, you will have to remain at home and that is the issue we are having now because last year December I refused. When they said there is no work I have to go to work and when I went to work by December other people were at work and I told my supervisor that I am a staff of this company and I’m supposed to go to work. Mr. Randolph Briggs then told me that he is the supervisor and he will decide who will come to work and who is not supposed to come to work. Then I had to go straight to the management and report to the management. When I did that, he threatened me, asking if I said I have the right to come to work. He then told me that he will smoke me out of the company. That was what he said to me and even the management did not support. The management told him that I am a staff of company, Candix and that I’m supposed to be at work and not the boys he brought from Port Harcourt.

What’s the management saying about the current situation?

When I go to the management they will tell me that he is in charge, that he is the person in charge of the department, rope access technicians, even when I went to the Indian man which is Stalin to make my report that I am supposed to be clocking in, that I want to be clocking or be signing in so that I’ll have an attendance because I cannot defend how many days I come to work, he then said that he has told Monday Ojobon for us to be clocking in, that the company has clocking machine but Monday refused that everything is in the hands of Monday.

But why is the management leaving everything in the hands of an individual that is also an employee?

That is what I don’t know. When we need hand gloves that we use to work they will refer you to Monday that he is the one in charge.

As at now, what is the situation of things in the company?

The only thing is that on the 19th of January we had a meeting with the management all that came up there he said because we don’t want to work that he will recommend to the company that he has the right to hire and fire, that was the final statement of the meeting and on that day he then threatened Mr. Idatonye Dan-Jumbo, stating that “I think you dey work for Brass, no worry”. He also threatened Mr. Afini Jumbo, saying “You, no worry your own na akamu case”. That was what he said on the 19th of January, 2024 and the management is aware of this. Mr. Kennedy was there, the CLO was there, the General Manager was also there. Randolph Briggs was there and Mr. Monday Ojobon and they all laughed over the issue. We have reported to the Police, the BYF and we want to report to the entire public, so that everyone will be aware of these issues.