Kaduna Electric Frontline April Edition

Data Driven Strategic Decisions and Efficient Customers’ Service Will Unlock Our Revenue Challenges -AM Doka

CCD: You are one of the Area Manager appointed recently, how do you feel being among the selected?

TO: I feel greatly honored for the privilege given me to serve in this capacity. I am profoundly grateful to God Almighty and to the Management for the confidence repose in me. I equally consider the appointment as a call to service. As such, I shall give the assignment my best shot, always working towards the achievement of the Company’s goal.

CCD: What do you think are the most challenging aspect of your assignment as Area Manager.

TO: As a servant-leader, who is teachable, and with high optimism, one who sees his job as personal business, no aspect of my job is insurmountable. If I am confronted with difficult issues, I consult my mentors, senior colleagues as well as fellow Area Managers and this has made my work and life less challenging. Furthermore, as sociologist will say “interaction makes a man”.  As an Area Manager, my job is centered around managing people (internal and external stakeholders) and non-human resource. People have different thought process, beliefs, values, opinion, level of exposure and understanding, before reaching or taking a decision, one has to put some of these into consideration, not also forgetting the fact that as a leader you cannot please everyone.  

CCD: Can you breakdown in details the performance of the area office in the last 6 months?

TO: If we look at the four critical variables; collection efficiency, ATC&C loss level, Bill Distribution App usage and customers’ complaints resolution, we can say that there is marginal improvement in the performance of the Area Office in the last 6(six months). Our average collection efficiency in the last six months is 50%. We are not satisfied with this and a lot being done to further improve the situation. On the ATC&C loss level, the average is 66.6% while we have attained 100% and 98.6% usage of the bill distribution App and customers’ complaints resolution respectively. From the table above, the Area Office is doing well and we intend to sustain the tempo and keep improving month on month.

Doka Area Office is a work-in-progress.  The Area Office has been on an upward trajectory and we shall maintain this positive trend.  As a matter of fact, the Area Office have had the highest collection efficiency companywide for the last three quarters, July to September 2021, October to December 2021 and January to March 2022.

CCD: How are you coping with vandalism?

TO: We are engaging our customers more through frequent sensitization, community engagement and town hall meetings on the need to safeguard electricity installations within their domain.  Recently, we wrote letters to community leaders, chiefs, imams and pastors within our area of coverage to spread the message that electricity installations in their community should be protected against vandals/thieves and in turn their response so far has been remarkable.  For example, a vandal was recently caught with the help of community support at Kwaru, Badarawa under 11KV Rabah Road Service Center and was handed over to the police with our full participation and the individual has been prosecuted with heavy flogging at the Sharia Court in Malali. This I believe will serve as deterrent to others.

CCD: There are some customers that are not responding to payment of their bills which is also contributing to our losses, what do you think is the cause of this poor customers’ response and what are you doing to reverse the trend?

TO: To start with, Doka Area Office customers’ response on postpaid is over 70% and 100% on prepaid month on month.  Companywide, this trend can be reversed if we work strategically, using data (the right data).

Firstly, we have to identify the non-paying customers (defaulters) and engage them properly. Starting with the best they can offer as at first visit and continue to engage till we can have our energy charges collected.

Secondly, the customer who pay less than what they consume should be engaged too.  As marketers, we shouldn’t get tired of visiting our customers until they pay us what they have consumed, this will help us serve them better.

Thirdly, those who pay correctly should be encouraged.  Report has it that this class of customers are always threatened to the point they become discouraged.  For this not to happen, we must treat our customers with love and respect; because they are kings and without them, we will not be in business.

If we go by the aforementioned, we will increase our customers’ response volume and by extension increase the revenue.

CCD: Tapping from your wealth of experience what does it take to a good leader?

TO:  To be a good leader you must possess the following:

You must have a clear vision, be courageous, honest, HUMBLE, hardworking, a strategic planner, ultimately be a team player, inspire others, learn to follow, you must learn to express gratitude to your team members, help people understand their strength and simplify job roles, be patient with people, you must practice discipline, be teachable, diligent, have integrity, you must be an active listener, have the ability to resolve conflicts and lastly tell your story (sharing of one’s experience with team members) as it's often said that experience is the best teacher.

 

CCD: What is the story behind Terna Oluwabunmi Toryem and what is the most difficult decision you have taken in any official capacity?

TO: This is a tough one, but then let me give it a trial.

I am God fearing, gentle, a good listener, problem solver, smart and humble. I love interacting with people from different walks of life, more to that, I am a team player with the capacity of influencing my team towards achieving set goals and objectives. Finally, I am a sport lover and a typical family man.

Moving on, the most difficult decision I have taken in official capacity was when I had to use deduction of staff salary as a measure to curb the high rate of indiscipline among my team members in line with the provisions of the condition of service. Even at that, it still HURTS.