Yemisi Izuora
Ikeja Electric Plc, has published its 2018 Sustainability Report titled, “Committed to Excellence – Half a Decade of Bringing Energy to Life”, which reflects IE’s performance, accomplishments, challenges, passion for its business and its growth opportunities in 2018.
Being the first and only Electricity Distribution company in Nigeria to produce a sustainability report, the Report covers IE’s sustainability journey post-takeover with the inherent accomplishments including rebranding, infrastructure investments, smart technology investment, business process investment and performance improvement among other successes attained from the takeover period up to December 2018.
The 2018 Sustainability Report is the fourth report published by IE in successive order, and commemorates five years of the takeover of the company’s operation by its core investors following privatization on November 1, 2013.
Introducing the Report, the Chairman of Ikeja Electric, Kola Adesina, explained that “the scope of IE’s sustainability reports has moved beyond merely communicating financial risks to performance reporting aimed at fostering stakeholder confidence, long-term risk management, building the Company’s reputation and refining its corporate vision and strategy. Through the yearly publication of sustainability reports, IE has demonstrated its commitment to accountability, responsibility and transparency, which have unarguably, distinguished the Company in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).”
The Company aims to publish its Sustainability Reports on an annual basis and the intended audience for this Report are key stakeholders, which include customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, government and regulatory bodies. These stakeholders directly impact and are also directly impacted by the activities of the Company.
“Since we took over in November 2013, we have put in place, strategies that will steer the electricity distribution arm of the electricity sector value chain to greater heights,” Adesina added
“We have assembled a strong leadership team with extensive experience, robust industry and consumer knowledge, focused on innovation and growth. In addition, we have reinvigorated our legacy of sustainability with the introduction of customer-centric initiatives, which are geared towards assuring all stakeholders of a business built on accountability, responsibility, transparency and fairness. We have demonstrated that with the right leadership, the Company can continue to grow and improve its performance as expected by all stakeholders.”
Looking beyond the five years, Adesina noted that “sustainability will remain a central focus for the Company and its Board. Our customers and other stakeholders are crucial to the achievement of our goals; and we believe that a business can only be deemed strong and successful when its stakeholders are satisfied with the services provided. Consequently, the Board will continue to support initiatives that promote its sustainability agenda while creating value in the coming years.”
The Report which is developed by the Company’s Governance & Compliance Office, highlights that in 2018, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aided the Company in securing its social license to operate and build the trust of its stakeholder groups. Businesses cannot succeed in societies that fail, and as such, the Company invested in the achievement of SDGs such as; ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing for all at all ages; ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education; promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all; achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls.
The Company also contributed to the achievement of the SDGs by providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all; building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization; fostering innovation and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. Other contributions include provision of access to justice for all; building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; strengthening the means of implementation and revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development.
The Company reported that within the period under review, it established better technology-driven processes, leveraged data to measure performance for a more consistent growth pattern, optimized its network to drive efficiency and enhanced its security management system. It also deepened its Quality Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) processes and procedures through learning and development programs such as “Target Zero” and “QHSE at a glance” which impacted positively on employees, vendors and contractors.
Over the years, the Company has strengthened its stakeholder engagement and partnership to foster better relationships and maintain a social license to operate, whilst building a committed workforce by treating its employees fairly through reward and recognition initiatives put in place to incentivize the excellent performance of employees.
“We do not report data because it is popular, or because others do so. We track our sustainability performance because it helps us make better decisions, helps to de-risk projects, discover new opportunities and deliver real value for our business. We acknowledge that there is still work to be done and we will continue to do all we can to ensure we maintain our brand promise – bringing energy to life.” Adesina states in the Report.
The Company’s 2018 Sustainability Report was organized and presented in accordance with the Sustainability Reporting Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI Standards seek to achieve consistency amongst organizations reporting on their sustainability activities.