The Nation Newspaper

Tag: compensation

  • Ripples over compensation for Zaki Biam victims

    HE move by the Federal Government for an out-of-court settlement with victims of the 2001 Zaki-Biam military invasion is creating ripples.

    The victims denied the knowledge of a move to settle them with N8 billion through Benue State government instead of the N41.8 billion awarded by a Federal High Court as compensation against the Federal Government for the loss of lives and properties.

    They are protesting that the state government cannot negotiate on their behalf.

    In a March 11 petition to President Goodluck Jonathan, the victims, through their lead counsel, Chief Sebastian Hon (SAN), expressed displeasure that they were not consulted before the alleged out-of-court settlement was reached.

    The petition reads: “Our clients are deeply worried that over two weeks after they wrote to you through our office, there has been no reply from your high office, in spite of the weight of the issues we raised in our first letter on the matter.

    “Rather, our clients have continued to read in the media about the alleged settlement between the Federal Government and the Benue State Government for the judgment debt to be reduced from N41.8 billion to a mere N8 billion.

    “More worrisome, is the fact that those media stories started surfacing immediately after we wrote to your respected office demanding for payment of the entire judgment sum.

    “Our clients have instructed us to inform you in the strongest possible terms, yet with utmost respect to your good and exalted self and office, that they did not at any time brief anybody, particularly any official of the Benue State Government, to negotiate for payment of N8 billion as full and final satisfaction of the judgment sum above-stated.

    “The actual and collateral damage done to our clients and millions of other persons who were directly or indirectly affected by the genocide of 2001 cannot even be compensated in monetary terms; hence any insinuation that the N41.8 billion awarded by the Federal High Court is too big an amount is, with respect, not well-grounded.

    “As we humbly pleaded with Your Excellency in our previous correspondence, we hereby reiterate that as the father of the nation, and given the enormous psychological and real damage caused the TV people by the rampaging soldiers in 2001, it is just fair, just and reasonable that this entire judgment sum be paid to our clients through our office and to other judgment creditors, to avoid a feeling among the fourth largest tribe in Nigeria, the TV nation, of deliberate government alienation.”

    The lawyer confirmed the delivery of the petition to the Presidency.

  • Ijora: Lagos to pay compensation

    Ijora: Lagos to pay compensation

    All hope of compensation may not be lost for residents of Ijora Badiya whose houses were demolished recently by the Lagos State government.

    The lawmaker representing Apapa 2 Constituency in the House of Assembly, Olumuyiwa Jimoh gave his people a ray of hope yesterday when he said he was discussing with Governor Babatunde Fashola on the possibility of compensation for those affected.

    He spoke at the Apapa 2 Constituency Town Hall meeting with Muyiwa Jimoh facilitated by The Lagos State Civil Society Partnership (LACSOP) at Ijora Badiya yesterday.

    But the problem about compensation, according to him, is that most of the people affected don’t have documents to prove their ownership of the property.

    He said: “I am making every effort, I am relating with the governor on behalf of the people for possible compensation, but a lot of them don’t have documents to back their claim. In fact, there is no evidence for now that any of them has any document of the land.

    “But on humanitarian and moral grounds, I feel the governor can still compensate them despite that a lot of them cannot produce evidence that the land was sold to them in the past,” Jimoh said. He, however, said that the state governor has already shown some commitment indirectly by assuring those displaced that some of them will be beneficiaries of the scheme.

    “But how far it would go I can’t say categorically. But I advise those concerned to form a block and present a united front instead of operating in clusters or different groups, it will not help matters.”

    He also debunked claims by the residents that they were not given notice before the demolition, arguing that when he met the governor he showed him two different notices of more than a year’s notice given to the residents.

    The residents, according to him, claim that the land was given to them by the Federal Government “how do you give what you don’t have?” he queried.

    “Even the Oba Ojora of Lagos, from what I read in the newspaper, has also said that the place is long overdue for development, that in the 21st century Lagos cannot wait behind, it must move with the time.”

     

  • Dana Air victims get compensation

    Insurers of Dana Air have begun the payment of compensation to the Iju-Ishaga, Lagos residents whose property were damaged when a Dana Air McDonnel Douglas 83 aircraft crashed into the area on June 3 last year.

    Dana Air’s Head of Corporate Communications, Tony Usidamen, confirmed the development in a telephone chat.

    He said: “We can confirm that the payment of compensation to the affected residents has begun. The process is still ongoing and our insurers are committed to ensuring that claimants are compensated.”

    The Dana Air spokesman declined to name the residents or amount paid.

    However, investigations showed that Pastor Daniel Omowunmi, the most vocal of the affected residents, was among those who have received compensation, an initial payment of $30,000.

    On why it took this long for compensation to be paid to the ground victims, Usidamen said: “To ensure that just and fair compensation is paid to the affected families, several processes have been followed by the law, and settlement reached by the parties concerned.

  • FCTA approves N30m compensation for Fulani/Gwari clash victims

    To restore peace among the Gwari and Fulani in the Gwako area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the minister, Senator Bala Muhammed, yesterday approved the payment of N30 million compensation to displaced victims of the recent Gwari/Fulani clash.

    The minister also approved the immediate payment of N2.4 Million compensation to the families of the two deceased and eight other victims.

    Though Muhammed argued that there is no amount of money that can buy back the lives of the dead, he promised that the FCT Administration would give them something worthwhile.

    He said the payment should be within a month.

    The minister spoke in Abuja when he received the report of the Implementation Committee on Gwari/Fulani Clash.

    Muhammed assured FCT residents and other Nigerians that necessary steps would be taken to implement the report and bring lasting peace and unity.

    He promised that the committee’s recommendations would be implemented in the next three months.

    The Chairman of the committee and Permanent Secretary, FCTA, Mr. Anthony Ozodinobi said the police had not arrested Muhammed Musa, who was said to have forcefully taken his cattle to graze on Danjuma Saidu’s farm.

    The action, he said, caused the crisis.

    The committee chairman alleged that Abubakar Ibrahim, who macheted Abu Maihoto, deformed him and caused the death of two other persons.

    According to him, the Gwari and the Fulani living in Gwako have agreed to live in peace again.

    To return peace and normality to the community, the implementation committee recommended the following short and long-term meassure:

    “The displaced Fulani should be resettled immediately in their original location at the cost of N11,316,751, including 200,000 for clearing and cleaning the University of Abuja camp before the resumption of the school on 25th of this month””The minister should immediately set-up a committee to actualize the movement of the Fulani’s to the permanent Grazing reserve at Paikun Kure on the medium and long term.

    “Nothing that two persons died and nine persons suffered various degrees of injury, FCTA should immediately provide the sum of N2,400,000.00 for the payment of compensation to the families of the two deceased and eight victims and then the sum of N149, 450.00 for the hospital and mortuary bills.

    “To ensure adequate security over a reasonable time frame of 90 days in the first instance, the sum of N15, 315, 000.00 will be required immediately.

    “For all these short term actions the total sum is N29, 181, 201.00. It should be noted that this excludes the stop feeding of the displaced by NEMA and AMMC.”

    The committee also recommended that the Nigeria Police and the Security Agencies should speedily conclude their on-going investigations, adding that all the culprits should be arrested and charged to court in line with the provisions of the 1999 constitution and the penal code.

    The committee noted that, “Muhammed Musa who forcefully took his cattle to graze on Danjuma saidu’s farm thereby eliciting the whole crisis, Abubakar Ibrahim who matcheted Abu maihoto thus causing him grievous bodily harm and permanent deformity, all those involved the death of two persons”

     

  • Dana gives condition for compensation

    Dana gives condition for compensation

    Families of victims of the Dana air crash need to produce Letters of Administration from the probate registry to facilitate payment of the first 30 per cent of their compensation, the airline restated on Monday.

    TheChief Executive Officer, Dana Airline, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, gave the position in a press statement released to aviation correspondents in Lagos.

    The statement was given out by the airline’s spokesman, Mr. Tony Usidiamen.

    Hathiramani said that to date, Letters of Administration had been produced by only a small number of claimants.

    According to him, the letters also need to be verified by the probate office which issued them.

    “Subject to verification, full compensation will be paid to those properly entitled in accordance with the law and available evidence, at the earliest opportunity.

    “The present position is that 80 advance payments of 30,000 USD have been processed by virtue of documentation supplied, demonstrating familial links and kinship.

    “Our insurers are continuing to deal with all other claims in accordance with the applicable law,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the Dana chief as saying in the statement.

    He assured the families that as soon as the letters were received and verified by the airline, they would be paid the compensation.

    Hathiramani said that Dana Air had no control over the speed with which the probate office dealt with the verification process, although maximum pressure was being exerted to expedite it.

    He said that the airline was following the customary procedure in order to ensure that just compensation was only paid to those entitled.

    The airline chief was, however, silent on when the airline’s insurance company would begin payment of the remaining 70 per cent of the claims to the families.

     

  • Ogun pays N88m compensation

    Ogun pays N88m compensation

    The Ogun State Government yesterday paid N88.07 million in cheques to 69 individuals, whose properties were marked for demolition to pave way for road expansion at Agbeloba in Abeokuta, the state capital.

    A Deputy Director at the Bureau of Lands, Mr. Isaac Akogun, said the Governor Ibikunle Amosun followed due process by compensating the landlords before demolishing the structures.

    Akogun said the government contracted the valuation of the property to a consultant.

     

  • Accident victim gets N3m compensation

    An accident victim in Ogun State, Mr. Seyi Adesanya, has received N3 million compensation three years after he was knocked down by a hit and run driver.

    Adesanya was hit in Sagamu by a truck owned by the Flour Mills Nig. Plc.

    Presenting the cheque to Adesanya in Abeokuta, Ogun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde (SAN), said the compensation was made possible through the intervention of the Citizens Rights Department (CRD) of the Ministry of Justice.

    Ogunde said the department provides a platform for people to exercise their rights and thanked Flour Mills Nig. Plc. for cooperating with CRD to resolve the issue peacefully.

    He said: “This is a triumph for mediation and negotiation. This is the result of the high premium your organisation places on the protection of human rights, else, the matter could have resulted to litigation.”

    The Head, Legal Department, Flour Mills Nig. Plc, Mr. Joseph Umolu, said the absence of a functional legal department before his appointment was responsible for the delay in the compensation.

    CDR Director Mrs. Dayo Osunfisan and the mother of the victim, Mrs. Ogunbowale, thanked the organisation for standing up to its responsibility.