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Tag: payment

  • NAICOM facilitates disputed claims payment

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has resolved disputed claims of N539.7 million for aggrieved insurance consumers.

    Its Head, Corporate Affairs, ‘Rasaaq ‘Salami, in a statement in Lagos, said the Commission facilitated the payment of the claims to the aggrieved consumers in line with its responsibilities.

    According to him, the claims arose from 34 complaints over delayed or non-settlement of genuine insurance claims in the first half of the year.

    He said the Commission received a total of 147 complaints from policy holders, beneficiaries or their representatives during the period under review.

    He noted that the majority of these complaints are at advanced stages of being resolved.

    According to him, the Commission employs a civil process of resolving these disputes and complaints through correspondences and mediation meetings between all stakeholders.

    He recalled that the Complaint Bureau Unit of the Commission was established  to process and resolve complaints from aggrieved insurance policy owners and beneficiaries in all areas of the business.

     

     

  • Buhari commences payment of ex-militants’ allowances

    Buhari commences payment of ex-militants’ allowances

    The Federal Government has commenced the payment of outstanding allowances of former Niger Delta militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme  (PAP), it emerged yesterday.

    The commencement of payment of the allowances followed the directives of

    President Muhammadu Buhari to the PAP office that the payment of the N65,000 monthly allowance resume immediately following the appointment of Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (Rtd) as the PAP Coordinator and Special Adviser on Niger Delta.

    In a statement yesterday by PAP’s  Head of Media and Communications, Daniel Alabrah, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) confirmed the commencement of the payment of the outstanding  allowances that will be in batches.

    It reads: “The outstanding stipends will be paid in batches. We have commenced payment with the outstanding May 2015 stipends.

    “That of June and July will be paid afterwards.

    “The outstanding allowances and school/training fees of beneficiaries will be cleared at the end of the ongoing verification exercise of genuine claims.

    “Hopefully, the other payments will commence soon once the verification team concludes its exercise.

    “Gen. Boroh said the approval granted by the President for commencement of payment was heartwarming.

    “Mr. President has by his approval demonstrated his commitment to strengthening of the Amnesty Programme.

    “It is heartwarming that he graciously approved funds so as to quickly resolve the issues that have affected the smooth running of the programme.

    “Now beneficiaries whose training or studies have been affected can look forward to resuming their studies sooner than later.

    “We are committed to a quick resolution of all outstanding issues, including the training fees,” Boroh was quoted as saying.

    On assumption of duty after being  appointed as the PAP Coordinator and Special Adviser on Niger Delta, Boroh  immediately set up a seven-man committee to undertake a verification exercise of claims.

    There are about 30,000 ex militants on the register of the Federal Government for the Amnesty Programme.

  • Ekiti pensioners demand payment

    Ekiti pensioners demand payment

    Pensioners in Ekiti State are asking Governor Ayo Fayose to explain the state’s indebtedness to them.

    The state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has written to Fayose, following his silence on the amount owed retirees during his broadcast on the “bailout” package from the Federal Government.

    The body said the governor’s failure to speak was causing anxiety among them.

    A copy of the letter signed by the state NUP Chairman, Elder Ayo Kumapayi, and Secretary Kayode Ogedengbe, said the government’s explanation would go a long way to calm the agitated pensioners.

    The letter reads: “The attention of the Ekiti State Council of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has been drawn to the government’s pronouncement on the funds released to states by the Federal Government.

    “It is noted that the state government did not mention its indebtedness to pensioners in the pronouncement.

    “This has been causing much anxiety among pensioners. We hope, also, that the matter would be treated with the urgency which, we believe, it deserves.”

  • Aregbesola explains 50 per cent payment

    Aregbesola explains 50 per cent payment

    •Labour expresses disappointment 

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has explained why some workers were paid 50 per cent of their salaries.

    A statement by his media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, said: “The government wishes to state that it realised the need to accommodate our senior citizens, the pensioners, within the limited funds available to ensure an all-inclusive payment that will alleviate the hardship that the delay in salaries and pensions had caused. It should be noted that happiness never decreases by sharing.

    “The government’s attention has been drawn to a growing discontent among workers on the partial payment of salary to workers from Grade Level 08 and above.”

    The governor said he was committed to meeting his obligations to the workers as more funds become available.

    Appealing to the workers to be calm, he said: “This period calls for deep understanding of our challenges and we are calling on all and sundry for cooperation in this regard.”

    Labour leaders yesterday expressed disappointment at the payment.

    They wondered why the government would pay Level 1 to 7 their full January salary while Level 8 and above were paid half of their salaries for the same month.

    Speaking with reporters, the state Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Jacob Adekomi, said the payment of 50 per cent salary was unacceptable.

    He ordered workers to remain at home until the government lives up to its agreement with the labour unions.

    Few civil servants went to work yesterday as many offices at the state secretariat were not opened.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) urged workers to show understanding.

    In a statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, the party said: “The government will pay all arrears. If 50 per cent is given now it does not mean that the government will not pay the rest.”

  • We haven’t received any payment, say Ekiti APC lawmakers

    We haven’t received any payment, say Ekiti APC lawmakers

    The 19 All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers in the Ekiti State House of Assembly have refuted a report that Governor Ayodele Fayose had paid their outstanding salaries and allowances.

    They claimed that the embargo on their salaries and allowances has not been lifted, adding that the payment or non-payment of their financial entitlements cannot prevent them from defending the constitution which they swore to protect.

    A statement by Speaker Adewale Omirin’s Special Adviser on Media, Wole Olujobi, said the report was mischievous, lacking the basic tenet of journalism to always report facts in place of rumours and unfounded allegations.

    The lawmakers said they were shocked that the reporter did not dwell on their responses when he called them, preferring to file his report based on rumour, blackmail and outright lie.

    They said: “It is shocking that the reporter chose not to believe us but overzealously believe in the purported sources that thrive on falsehood, lies and propaganda.

    “The reporter in one breath said his investigation revealed that the lawmakers had been paid, yet he reported that both Fayose and the lawmakers did not confirm the report as they refused to talk to him.

    “If this were the case, then who are the sources that confirmed to the reporter that the lawmakers had been paid?

    “To make matters worse, contrary to the reporter’s claim that we did not talk to him, we told him at our end that we have not been paid.

    “Apart from getting this fact from us, the Speaker’s media aide told him the same and so we are surprised that the reporter is claiming that he received no information from us.

    “In fact, as at Saturday night, the alerts we received from our bank were debit alerts and so we wonder where the reporter got his story.

    “It is unfortunate that just because the reporter wanted to file an exclusive report for his paper, he went ahead to report this falsehood motivated by blackmail.

    “Let us even agree without conceding that we were paid our lawful entitlements, what favour does the governor do to us by that after illegally cutting short our tenure by seven months and putting us in harrowing inconveniences in addition to his brazen rape on the constitution?

    “Must payment of our legal entitlements prevent us from defending the constitution which we swore to protect?

    “Where are the indications of payment when embargo is placed on our accounts by the governor? Even those who should know in government are wondering where the reporter got his story because there was never any payment to the lawmakers.

    “This is irresponsible journalism at its worst and it is unfortunate that this is coming from a reputable medium.

    “We know that this is exactly what the governor would be telling the press when he conceded to pay us to forgo resuming our duties, which we rejected.

    “When the reporter was calling the Speaker, his media aide and later the lawmakers, the response he got was that they had not received any alert.

    “In fact as we speak, the governor‘s embargo is still on our accounts and nobody has been notified that he or she has been paid and so we wonder where the reporter got his information.”

  • Ekiti begins payment of April salary

    Ekiti begins payment of April salary

    The Ekiti State Government has begun the payment of April salary with an assurance that all verified workers would receive their pay before Friday.

    The Head of Service,  Gbenga Faseluka, said the payment  began last Friday with the core civil service comprising Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    Faseluka assured that the public service made up of the Teaching Service Commission, Hospitals Management Board as well as other parastatals would be paid before Friday.

    He added that workers who could not be verified last week due to observed default in the required documents are to undergo a second round of checks at the designated verification centres.

    The Head of Service thanked the workers for their cooperation and understanding.

    The Head of Service assured that Governor Ayo Fayose would continue to give priority attention to the welfare of workers even as the present administration has not defaulted in payment of salaries since its emergence in October 2014.

  • Ajimobi orders payment of workers’ salaries

    Ajimobi orders payment of workers’ salaries

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has directed that all outstanding salaries be paid this week.

    Commissioner for Finance Zach Adelabu said salaries were delayed following the late payment of states’ allocation from the Federal Government.

    He said the state received the January allocation on February 26, which was a far cry from what was expected.

    Adelabu denied the opposition’s claim that local contractors were not being patronised.

    The commissioner said over 60 per cent of the contracts awarded by the administration were to local contractors.

    His words: “What did they know about capital flight? These people who are talking just ask them what they understand by the word capital flight. We have 33 local governments building roads that are having a direct and positive bearing on our people.

    “They are building schools; supplying furniture; yet they say that those that did these and are still working are not from here? The jobs that the local contractors cannot handle are the ones we are giving out to outsiders.

    “One of such projects is the Mokola flyover. And apart from that flyover and the one done by the military at Molete and Secretariat Bridge, no civilian administration has done such projects in the state.

    “We have expanded many roads in conformity with global standard and we are not stopping at that. Other areas as qualitative health care delivery, education, among others, are receiving attention.”

    Adelabu assured retired primary school teachers, who are yet to get their salaries, that the government was working to put smiles on their faces.

  • Electricity bill: Residents insist no payment

    Electricity bill: Residents insist no payment

    Residents of Papa Ashafa and Alagba Community Development Association (CDA) in Agege, Lagos, last Saturday stick to their words that they will not pay electricity bills to Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) until the distribution company improves the condition of service.

    At a meeting with the IKEDC’s officials, the aggrieved residents came out in hundreds to lodge their complaints before the officials. These include “outright cancellation of power shedding, bills amnesty, stoppage of crazy billing, immediate circulation of pre-paid meters, poor maintenance of transformers and electric cables, nonchalant attitude of officials to the residents, among others.

    The residents had on February 23, marched to Dopemu Distribution Centre of the IKEDC to protest  the poor situation of the power supply within the area.

    Youth Alliance for Better Nigeria Coordinator, Moruf Niniola told the IKEDC officials that the residents are fed up with the poor service, noting that they are paying for the electricity which they didn’t consume.

    Niniola said gone are the days residents spent their incomes to buy generators, fuel it and pay for electricity at the end of the month, even at higher billing.

    He urged the officials to quickly proffer solution to the problems, saying that the residents didn’t mind removing all the electricity poles and the cable within the area if that would provide solution to the problems within the maximum of four weeks of their projection.

    A community leader, Chief Afolabi Oniyide, demanded to know the reason for the delayed of the prepaid meters paid for over 7 months ago.

    Oniyide said he paid N12, 000 for the prepaid meters when he discovered non-transparency in the company’s billing.

    He presented documents to back his claim.

    Another resident Olawale Orebayo, described the company’s over-billing as broad-day robbery.

    “There was a time I travelled out of the country for over two months, I could not believe my eyes when I met N28, 000 bill despite that all my home appliances were switched off even the electric cut-out was removed,” he said.

    He wondered why residents should be levied heavily when there was not electricity supply.

    Orebayo said the company is yet to attend to his complaints after several messages and mails concerning the outrageous bill.

    A widow, Mrs Taiwo Adedoyin called for a quick revisit of crazy bills accumulated in her house. She said her tenants have refused to continue paying for the electricity due to the monthly high billing.

    She said the tenants had switch to generating set instead of electricity due to power outage and paying higher amount for electricity bill monthly.

    Mr Nzebude Uzoma told The Nation that the community have spoke in one voice that no house within the area will pay for electricity bill until the authority solve the crisis.

    The Marketing Manager, Dopemu Distribution Company, Mr Victor Amaraegbu, said most of the problems were caused by the country’s low power transmission, but pledged to deliver their message to the company’s higher authority.

    He urged the residents to stop tampering with their metres.

    Tampering with metre, he said, might cause high-speeding.

    He also appealed to them to shun employing local electricians to work on the electricity cables, transformers or connection in case of disconnection.

    These, he said, added to the problems of poor maintenance.

    The Branch Team Leader, Mr Banji Ogunleye said the branch had been doing all it could to ensure the damaged cables within the area are replaced.

  • 47,913 PHCN workers cry for payment

    47,913 PHCN workers cry for payment

    About 47, 913 bona fide staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) are yet to receive their severance package after the privatisation of the electricity sector.

    The workers protested the non-payment of their housing allowance, totalling about N400million by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).

    They said the money was deducted from their salaries in  2013 before their disengagement.

    The workers carried placards bearing various inscriptions, such as “President Jonathan, please help us locate where our money is hanging”; “There is God o o o”; and “Why delay payment of our housing allowances since 2013?”

    The protest took place at the secretariat of Oyo State Correspondents at Mokola, Ibadan.

    Addressing reportesr, their spokespersons, Oyedele Edna Owesiri, Julius Adeleke Taiwo, Adesina Olayinka, described as unusual the delay in the payment of the allowances.

    They said some of their colleagues have been paid while their own payment was being unduly delayed.

    The aggrieved workers claimed that the money has been paid to batches one to 10, but for reasons best known to those concerned, they have refused to pay batches 11 and 12.

    While pleading with President Goodluck Jonathan to look into their plight, the visibly angry ex- workers lamented that some of them have died waiting for the money.

    They explained that the affected workers are spread across Ogun, Kwara and parts of Kogi, Osun and Oyo states.

    Specifically, they asked the National Electricity Liability Management Company (NELMCO), a body set up by the Federal Government to see to all liabilities incurred by the government during the privatisation, to intervene.

    Meanwhile, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and other relevant government agencies have embarked on the last round of verification to sort things out.

    Director-General of the BPE,  Benjamin Dikki made this known when he featured at a radio programme in Lagos.

    He said: “This is the last verification exercise. After this exercise, all staff that did not  come for verification will be declared ghost workers.”

    Dikki appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the evolving electric market in the country as the ains in the sector would not manifest overnight. He explained that unlike reforms in other sectors, which brought immediate results, the power sector reform requires time as investment in the sector is capital intensive.

    Dikki said over N300 billion worth of investments has been injected into the power sector since the take over, one-and-half years ago.

    He pointed out that the investment was for the upgrade of power infrastructure, adding that they become obsolete over the decades, saying that new technologies are evolving.

    He said because of the infrastructural development by the power investors, power interruptions in the country have reduced to the barest minimum, while over 2,000 engineers and technicians have been employed since the takeover.

    Dikki noted regretted that for over 16 years as a public monopoly, PHCN neither employed nor brought in new investments into the sector.

  • Reps probe N3.4b payment to Ajaokuta staff

    Reps probe N3.4b payment to Ajaokuta staff

    The House of Representatives has expressed concerns over the payment of N3.4b as monthly salary to workers of  Ajaokuta Steel Company.

    House Committee on Steel was mandated to investigate the claim of the huge expenditure by the management of the company.

    In additoon, the Committee was requested to investigate the current developments in the company and report back within two weeks.

    The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of the prayers of a motion by Abbas Tajuddeen (APC, Kaduna), who regretted that the company has failed to achieve the purpose it was set up for.

    According to him, the intervention of the Legislature is required to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in reviving the steel company and bring it to a functional state.

    He said: “Despite the fact that the company was conceived and built with the aim of its facilitating the industrialisation and economic transformation of the country, it has failed to fulfill that expectation; hence, the engagement of consultants from the United States of America and India under the technical management contracts for 10 years, respectively.

    “It is surprising  that a media report of September 5, 2014, where the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN), in conjunction with Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (EWUN) addressed a press conference claiming that the monthly wage bill for 2,900 staff of the company is actually N288m and not the sum of N3.4b as alleged”.