How Safety Professional proliferation has affected ISPON; Mr. Kaizer Ebi
For almost 9 years, the leadership crisis rocking Nigeriaās leading chartered professional body, The Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) has continued to rise with all interventions meeting dead ends.
The ISPON crisis is a bad example for history classes and a regret for posterity. It failed to make out a lie out of Reneeās Ruleā¢ āYou canāt have two captains on the same shipā and has only resulted in the stunted growth of the safety profession in Nigeria, loss of professional integrity and united authority. If care is not taken, there will be no bright future for safety professionals to look forward to.
Unless something changes, the death toll in workplaces will continue to rise. For example, BusinessDay newspaper reported in January that 335 electricity workers have died in five years. Unless the ISPON crises is resolved, more government officials will only be able to lament the increase in occupational accidents and death, instead of making laws to promote safety culture.
HSENations recently made efforts to contact the two factional presidents on the way forward to have one united ISPON.
As at the time of this report, all effort to get Mr. Evaristus Uzamere led faction to comment did not yield any results. He (Uzamere) neither responded to our WhatsApp messages nor return our call as promised during the previous call made to him on his official line almost a week now.
However, Mr. Kaizer Ebi led faction has always responded to our calls and responded with a signed statement titled āUPDATES ON THE STRUGGLE TO ACHIEVE A UNITED INSTITUTE OF SAFETY PROFESSIONALS OF NIGERIAā which has also been in circulation.
The statements reads in full:
UPDATES ON THE STRUGGLE TO ACHIEVE A UNITED INSTITUTE OF
SAFETY PROFESSIONALS OF NIGERIA
It is with a lot of sadness that this write-up is being put together. Like many other things in Nigeria, Safety professionalism has become a game dominated by the proliferation of Associations, unions, and groups. This has been occasioned by the rancour in ISPON, a chattered Institute by the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria Act 2014.
Since the Bill was signed into law, a greedy Exco led by Dr. Nnamdi Ilodiuba has cunningly refused to hand over Power which was handed to them in 2013 until this present day when, without an election, creating an unhealthy atmosphere for safety professionals, they generated names of a Pastor Evaristus Uzamere and a few cohorts to pose as a governing board who are equally overwhelmed by personal interests rather than professional.
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Mr. Kaiser Ebi, who emerged as the legitimate President of ISPON in line with the judgment of the Federal High Court which sat in Port Harcourt, Rivers state has made concerted efforts to end the crisis and return the Institute to her place of glory and pride, but these elements have only cunningly scheduled and rescheduled meetings to release devious and greed inspired antics. Several industry leaders have spent their resources to see ISPON re-emerge and occupy her position in professional Africa, but these elements, engineered by one vituperate Timothy Iwuagwu, who has alternated within positions as Lagos branch Chairman, National spokesman, Lagos state coordinator, etc. These persons have leased out parts of the ISPON National secretariat at 46 Ikotun Isolo Road, Egbe and commercialized all ISPON training by selling out certificates and cheapening the hallowed fellowship award while utilizing some unscrupulous agents to sell ISPON certificates in NYSC camps and churches in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Benin City, Calabar, and Akwa Ibom. They have dubiously created a website with the .gov.ng domain name and included the Nigerian Coat of Arms to their documents; an anomaly.
The fact that the Institute is chartered by the law of FRN does not make it a government parastatal to be allowed the use of government domain name and the insignia of government. Thereby deceiving government agencies and the unsuspecting public. We are using this medium to call on the relevant government agencies concerned to investigate these unauthorized use of Federal Government’s insignia to protect the image of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Mr. Kaiser Ebi and his team, have only thought about the growth and recovery of the Institute. Apart from conducting stakeholdersā fora in Lagos and Abuja in line with the mandate of the ISPON ACT 2014, they have reviewed the ISPON training curriculum and upgraded it from GHSE, levels 1, 2 & 3 to Levels 1 to 5 in line with international standard; entered into MOUs with various institutions of higher learning across the country towards the introduction of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) into the Nigerian educational system.
Having done the reasonable towards an amicable resolution of the crisis to no avail, It has become imperative to treat these isolated individuals as enemies of ISPON and the safety profession in Nigeria. Nobody should attend their purported conference in October but instead attend the only ISPON CONFERENCE HOLDING THIS YEAR in Benin City, Edo state between August 24 to 26, 2022. Too much damage has been done and still being done.
#ENOUGHISENOUGH
Signed
Mr. Kaizer Ebi, President, ISPON
NB: We would like to remind everyone that the ISPON Crisis needs to come to an end as soon as possible. If you are somebody who is interested in the future of ISPON, now is the time to take action and put an end to this. Let us know who the real enemies are!
HSENations will continue to update the public on various peace moves made by individual and corporate bodies and their findings towards a UNITED ISPON.
