The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MTEL

  • PTAD pays 500 NITEL, Mtel deceased pensioners’ next of kins

    About N1.56 billion has been paid to 500 Next of Kins (NOKs) of deceased pensioners of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), and its mobile subsidiary, MTEL, by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD).

    Its Executive Secretary, Sharon Ikeazor, who made this known in a statement to newsmen, said the NOKs are beneficiaries of deceased Nitel and Mtel pensioners, who died after service under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

    She said the NOKs have completed the process of documentation and have been cleared for payment by the Federal Auditors, adding that the timely payment was achieved through diligent verification exercise conducted by Directorate to authenticate genuine NOKs before payment was made.

    She assured those who are yet to be paid of the Directorate’s commitment to see that all NOKs receive their entitlement.

    Meanwhile, a group of pensioners, under the aegis of Association of Retired Federal Senior Public Officers of Nigeria (ARFESPON), has urged both the Federal Government and Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to make specific statement on the outstanding 20.4 per cent deductions from their pension entitlement made by the Goodluck Jonatham’s administration since 2010.

    Although, ARFESPON expressed its appreciation to PTAD for the recent six months’ arrears of the 33 per cent it paid to its members, it, however, said both PTAD and the government have decided to sweep the outstanding 20.4 per cent arrears of deductions from their entitlements for eight years under the carpet without any comment, despite several calls by the various pensioners’ group for government to pay attention to their complaints.

    ARFESPON Lagos Chapter President, Mr Olufemi Odewabi, while addressing the media on the outstanding arrears at the group’s secretariat in Lagos, said it was painful  that government has decided to turn deaf ear to their calls for payment of this huge outstanding arrears.

    He said for almost eight years, his members and other pensioners’ groups have been calling on the government to direct attention to this, but neither the government nor its agency for retirees under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), which is the PTAD, has deemed it fit to issue a statement in that regard.

    Odewabi said this is the time for the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and Sharon Ikeazor-led management to make a statement on the eight years outstanding pension arrears of benefits, noting that they will continue to ask for their money.

    He explained that the eight-year 20.4 per cent arrears were incurred by the government when it effected 53.4  per cent increase in workers’ salaries and pensioners’ benefits.

    He said a committee was set up by former President Goodluck Jonathan to look into the 53.4 per cent increase in pension entitlements, but that the committee suddenly woke up to factor in some illegal deductions from pensioner’s benefits.

    He said: “The committee recommended the following deductions from pensioner’s benefits which include Tax, Contributory Pension Scheme, Housing and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), all totaling 20.4 per cent deductions and recommended that only 33 percent of the increase effected by the government should be paid to pensioners.

    “This is a rape on the right of the pensioners. It is obvious that the conclusion of the committee that reviewed the approved 53.4 per cent increase for pensioners acted in nullity and was even not logical in arriving at such conclusions.

    “As reviewed in the white paper report, it was stated that the committee believe that out of the 53.4 per cent increase Tax, Contributory Pension, Housing, NHIS  totalling 20.4 per cent should be deducted, which makes them arrive at the conclusion that only 33 per cent out of the 53.4 per cent should be granted over eight years.”

    He argued that 20.4 per cent of 53 per cent is not 33 per cent, rather  it is 10.68 per cent, adding that if 20 per cent of the granted increment is to be deducted, 20 per cent of 53.4 per cent cannot be 33 per cent.

    He further stated that the calls for the review of pension increase were wrong and deliberate intention to short change pensioners, and were constitutionally wrong and tantamount to economic sabotage.

    He questioned the tax deduction, adding that pensioner’s benefits are not supposed to be taxed. He also questioned the deduction for the CPS when they are under the DBS.

    He urged the government to review the illegal deductions and ensure payment of the eight years’ arrears of 20.4 per cent deducted by the Jonathan administration’s committee.

  • Retired NITEL/MTEL staff under siege

    For former staff members of NITEL resident in Ikorodu, an uptown district of Lagos, poverty has remained a metaphor of their existence at retirement.But that is now being further compounded by the fear of insecurity of their lives and property, no thanks to the nefarious activities of land grabbers who have since taken over the hitherto peaceful neighbourhood.

    Speaking with The Nation at the weekend some representatives of the embattled community under the aegis of NITEL/MTEL Landlord Association, Ikorodu, recounted their ordeals in the hands of hoodlums working with land grabbers and their alleged sponsors within the community.

    The residents who asked not to be named in view of the sensitive nature of the issue said they decided to cry out to the public to seek protection for their personal safety, security of their lives and property being endangered in recent times by the hoodlums and their paymasters.

    Going down memory lane, the leader of the delegation who gazed listlessly into space, recalled that trouble began for the over 300 families and residents in the neighbourhood when some land speculators encroached their property few years ago under the guise of acting under the instructions of some so-called landowners by selling some of the undeveloped plots of the over 67 hectares of land within the vicinity of the estate.

    “The place we’re currently occupying was NITEL staff quarters. We all lived here during our years of active service over 30-40years ago. The place was subsequently leased to us by the federal government in 2007 as former staff of NITEL in liquidation. Everything was gazetted. Few of us were able to develop our plots and moved in with our families while others were doing theirs gradually.

    “However, we noticed that few years ago, some parts of the estate not yet developed had been encroached by land grabbers called Ajagungbale in local parlance. These evil men have become our daily source of nightmare. They have practically made our lives miserable and insecure. They come anytime of day even wee hours of the night to torment us. Most times they brandish dangerous weapons, arms and ammunition and even barricade everywhere with their fetishes and charms with the intent to maim, destroy and kill anyone who challenges their activities. We don’t feel safe living in our homes anymore. As retired men and women no longer in active service we don’t have anywhere else to go. Our lives and that of our loved ones is in grave danger. As law-abiding citizens we can’t take the laws into our hands and that’s why we have decided to cry out to the public to save our soul. We need help fast.”

    Echoing similar sentiments, another resident confirmed that the land grabbers have been selling off the undeveloped plots to unsuspecting members of the public at ridiculously cheap prices with the intent to defraud them, warning that such acquisitions were not genuine.

    More worrisome, the embittered residents observed, is the fact that the core assets and facilities belonging to NITEL including fibre optic cables and allied equipment used for communication interchange across the country were being vandalised by the hoodlum without let or hindrance.

    “Without fear of contradiction I can tell you matter-of-factly that the core assets such as fibre optic cables, route masts and all, valued at severally billions of naira and built with taxpayers money have all been destroyed by these hoodlums.

    “We now live like refugees in our own house for fear of attack by these hoodlums. Unfortunately for most of us, we don’t have anywhere else to go. We just want the concerned authorities to be aware of the nefarious activities being perpetrated by these gang of robbers and help us nip it in the bud before it’s too late. We’re worried.”

  • Ex-Nitel/Mtel workers to govt: pay 20 years pension buy-out

    Former workers of Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunication Limited (Mtel), have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) and the office of the Accountant General to pay the balance of 20 years pension buy-out and other entitlements owed them.

    Under the auspices of the Association of Former Telecoms Employees of Nigeria (ATEN), they said the payment of severance entitlements to staff members was supposed to be regulated and governed by extant rules and regulations of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), but the BPE relied on the executive fiat of the Obasanjo administration to pay only five years pension buy-out instead of the 25 years buy-out award by the ILO.

    They said the delay in payment as awarded by the liquidation court has forced ATEN to approach the ECOWAS Court of Justice in suit number ECW/CCJ/APP/32/17 for an order of mandamus against the Federal Government and its concerned agencies.

    Speaking on behalf of the workers, ATEN President, Pastor Oluti Gabriel, said: “When the liquidation court was constituted and. inaugurated in 2013, the Incorporated Trustees of Association of Former Telecoms Employees of Nigeria (ATEN) entered the court through the legal representation and secured judgment as Secured/Preferential creditors.

    “The resultant claim for the affected 17,639 former workers totalling N290 billion (Balance of 20 years pension buy-out, 10 per cent entitlement of the sales of non-core assets, insurance) having long been submitted/re-submitted to the government since 2014 for payments.”

    Oluti further disclosed that the parole arrangements by the Minister of Finance through the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD),  an arrangement that was erroneously ventilated by the acclaimed existence of pensioners prior to liquidation, to place the former workers of Nitel/Mtel on life pension is totally unacceptable to ATEN as it completely negates and violates the liquidation court judgment, which awarded 25 years pension buy-out, as severance payments to all of them both pensioners and disengaged.

  • Nitel/Mtel was sold for N51.6b, says liquidator

    Nitel/Mtel liquidator Olutola Senbore has said N51, 648, 643, 000 was realised from the liquidation of the public owned telecom firms.

    According to him, the amount represented the $252.25 million paid by Natcom Consortium for the acquisition of the firms’ core assets, and other debts recovered on behalf of the liquidated firms.

    Senbore spoke during a meeting with agitated creditors of the liquidated telcos at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

    The liquidator also dismissed reports indicating that President Muhammadu Buhari had demanded an upward review of the $252.25 million bid price paid by Natcom for Nitel//Mtel.

    President Buhari was quoted in the media last year to have given a directive demanding additional payment above the $252.25 million paid by Natcom.

    The president was further quoted as saying that the directive was to ensure that “Nigeria was not shortchanged” in the transaction.

    Denying the existence of any such directive by Buhari, the liquidator, in an e-mail response to our correspondent’s inquiry, said he was not aware of any directive in that regard.

     

  • NITEL, MTEL pensioners cry out over 10 years unpaid pension

    NITEL, MTEL pensioners cry out over 10 years unpaid pension

    NITEL, MTEL pensioners cry out over 10 year’s unpaid pension Pensioners of the defunct Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL) have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari to end their 10 years of suffering by paying their pension benefits.

    The pensioners numbering over 2000??? said previous administrations have failed to pay their pension since former President, Olusegun Obasanjo sold and dissolved the organisation in 2006.

    Chairman, NITEL, MTEL pensioners, Iko Edem who made the call at a meeting held in Lagos said previous administration has not been fair to them.

    He however expressed confidence in the present administration of President Buhari.

    He said they have met with the present officials of the Federal Government and they have shown sympathy to them.

    He stated that following agitations by the affected pensioners, Government paid were paid five years pension as a pension pay off which they rejected.

    He said: “Our appeal is to the present government and we believe that they are listening to us. They told us that they feel a lot of injustice has been done to us and that they are looking into the matter. We have representatives in Abuja that is meeting with government and they are advising us on steps to take.

    “We made approaches to the past governments to no avail, only to be paid off five years pension right. We rejected it and sued Government at an Abuja High court and won. The Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) that sold NITEL went to court to appeal the judgment against us and won. We proceeded to the Supreme Court because we were not satisfied and this is the situation as at date.

    “It has not been easy for us at the Supreme Court because of the many cases at the Court. Presently, the attention of government is on political cases and that is why they have not heard our case up till now.  We filed our case in May last year and up till now they have not even heard us. But our lawyer has advised us to also go political and to do this we have to work with the government.

    “The present officials of government have sympatised with us. Many of us for instance served for 35 years. By the constitution of this country, once you have served in any institution, you are entitled to pension for life. It is however unfair for any government to stop our pensions and ask us to go for life. We are the only pensioner that government ask to go away with five years pension. There are other cases. They initially stopped our pension and when we protested, they paid us five years without negotiating with anyone of us. This is unacceptable to us.”

    He stressed that pensioners who served for 35 years including himself or retired voluntarily after 10 years are suppose earn pension for life adding that those who were exited from the service and have served 10 years in NITEL are also qualified for pensions.

    He noted that they are open for negotiation if they don’t want to pay them pension for life.

    We know the conditions for pay off which is that you either pay us 25 years pension salary or negotiate with us and whatever the two parties agree will be binding on us.

  • NITEL, MTEL pensioners cry out over 10 years’ unpaid pension

    NITEL, MTEL pensioners cry out over 10 years’ unpaid pension

    Pensioners of the defunct Nigeria Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its mobile arm, Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL) have cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari to end their 10 years of suffering by paying their pension benefits.

    The pensioners numbering over 2000 said previous administrations have failed to pay their pension since former President, Olusegun Obasanjo sold and dissolved the organisation in 2006.

    Chairman, NITEL, MTEL pensioners, Iko Edem who made the call at a meeting held in Lagos, said previous administrations have not been fair to them. He however, expressed confidence in the administration of President Buhari.

    He said they have met with the present officials of the Federal Government and they have shown sympathy to them, adding that following their agitations, government paid them them five years pension as pay off which they rejected.

    He said: “Our appeal is to the present government and we believe that they are listening to us. They told us that they feel a lot of injustice has been done to us and that they are looking into the matter. We have representatives in Abuja that is meeting with government and they are advising us on steps to take.

    “We made approaches to the past governments to no avail, only to be paid off five years pension right. We rejected it and sued government at an Abuja High court and won. The Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) that sold NITEL went to court to appeal the judgment against us and won. We proceeded to the Supreme Court because we were not satisfied and this is the situation as at today.

    “It has not been easy for us at the Supreme Court because of the many cases at the Court. Presently, the attention of government is on political cases and that is why they have not heard our case up till now.  We filed our case in May last year and up till now they have not even heard us. But our lawyer has advised us to also go political and to do this; we have to work with the government.

    “The present officials of government have sympatised with us. Many of us for instance, served for 35 years. By the constitution of this country, once you have served in any institution, you are entitled to pension for life. It is however, unfair for any government to stop our pensions and ask us to go for life. We are the only pensioners that government asked to go away with five years pension. There are other cases. They initially stopped our pension and when we protested, they paid us five years without negotiating with anyone of us. This is unacceptable to us.”

    He stressed that pensioners who served for 35 years or retired voluntarily after 10 years are supposed to earn pension for life, adding that those who were exited from the service and have served 10 years in NITEL are also qualified for pensions.

    He noted that they are open for negotiation if they don’t want to pay them pension for life.

    We know the conditions for pay off which is that you either pay us 25 years pension salary or negotiate with us and whatever the two parties agree will be binding on us.

  • Reps to investigate Nitel, Mtel sale

    Reps to investigate Nitel, Mtel sale

    The House of Representatives is to investigate the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and its mobile subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunication (Mtel).

    The lawmakers said the process leading to the sale of the two national carriers for $252million to a consortium named NATCOM, was flawed.

    They also said the two national carriers were worth more than the amount generated for them by the government.

    The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of a motion by Henry Nwawuba  (PDP, Imo), who regretted that it was the failure of the National carriers to live up to the expectations of Nigerians that led to their privatisation and subsequent sale in December 2014 to NATCOM for $252.3m

    He said: “We should be concerned that since the sale and subsequent take over by NATCOM, lots of controversies have been raised about the process leading to the sales, particularly on the alleged under-valuation of the companies prior to the sales.

    “The sale should be more worrisome when viewed against the huge revenue potentials of communication companies, especially with Nigeria’s huge population of over 170 million and also its capacity to generate employment for the teeming unemployed citizens.

    “We are also cognizant of the fact that there is every need to resolve the issues surrounding the sales and takeover of the National carriers by the NATCOM consortium.

    The Minority leader, Leo Ogor in his conttibution, said the enormity of the subject matter, especially on capital flight must be appreciated by Nigerians, stressing that the  privatisation policy of government failed regarding NITEL considering the fact that it has infrastructural facilities all over the country.

    He said the privatisation policy was not only abused, but also not well managed which allowed some phoney foregn companies to syphon the country’s money.

    He urged the investigation panel to reveal the truth about the transaction.

    Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta), opined that from  security point of view, NITEL and Mtel should not have been sold in the first place.

    Citing the recent penalty slammed on a mobile communications service provider, Ossai explained that NITEL has the capacity, with its nationwide facilities to provide the services required of it by security agencies without prejudices.

    On his part, Simon Arabo (PDP, Kaduna), who noted that there was something inimical about the sale noted that NITEL’s critical assets alone are worth more than what it was sold for.

    Emmanuel Oghene (PDP, Lagos) however warned that the  privatization policy should not confused with the NITEL sale.

    According to him, privatization policy is desirable but the reason behind the cheap sale of  the national carrier should be the main focus of the investigation.

    Dickson Tarkighin (APC, Benue)backed Oghene saying NITEL’s  landed property alone can raise the money it was sold for.

    He said all those involved in the sale of the national carrier should not be spared from prosecution if Cound culpable.

  • Firm faults BPE,others on NITEL, MTEL privatisation

    A firm, Basbsim International Limited has faulted the ongoing process to sell  the assets of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited Plc (NITEL) and Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL).

    It alleged that the process being handled by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) is devoid of transparency and tailored to favour certain interest.

    The allegation is contained in court processes in relation to a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/517/2014   filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja by the firm through its lawyer, Christopher Eichies. Sued with BPE are its Director-General, the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), NITEL, MTEL and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

    Basbsim stated that it learnt about the sale of assets of NITEL and MTEL via an advertorial published by BPE on page 49 of the June 9 edition of Thisday newspaper where the advertisers invited expression of interests from the general public.

    It further stated that on the strength of the advertisement, it undertook to bid for the assets by putting in a first financial and technical proposal. It added that in line with international best practices, it took it made to submit its bid at the offices of the BPE on June 30 as requested in the advertorial, but was prevented.

    The plaintiff said its head of operations in Abuja was refused entry into the premises of BPE located at plot 11, Osun Cresent, Maitama, and that all entreaties made by it to the BPE and its officials to accept its proposal fell on deaf ears as the security operatives in BPE’s Abuja office said they had instruction from the management not receive any proposals.

    It alleged that by its conduct, BPE gives the impression that it had already predetermined those companies to whom the assets of NITEL and MTEL would be sold, and that there was a plot to exclude credible investors from partaking in the sale of the assets.

    The plaintiff argued that the assets of the two public companies, valued at billions of United States dollars, belonged to Nigerians and not personal estate of those whose responsibility it is to sell them.

    It urged the court to order the BPE to accept its interests to be prequalified in the privatization process and to declaration that the BPE’s refusal of its expression of interests on June 30 is unlawful.

    Basbsim is also seeking a declaration that the NCP possesses the power to prevail on the first and second (NCP and its DG) defendants to accept its prequalification bid. It equally seeks an order directing the first defendant to accept its expression of interests and those of other companies earlier rejected.

    The defendants are yet to respond to the suit.