The Nation Newspaper

Tag: unpaid salary

  • Rivers company protests unpaid salary

    WORKERS of Murphy Shipping and Commercial Services in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday protested unpaid seven months’ salary, gratuities, pensions and other entitlements.

    The protesting workers, who are members of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) carried placards, demanding justice.

    Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Shipping, Clearing and Forwarding Agents (SSASCFA) Branch of TUC, Murphy Unit, Leonard Madu, told reporters that the alleged ill-treatment necessitated the peaceful protest.

    He said despite reaching out to the management, nothing was done in the last three months.

    Madu said: “We have written series of letters to the management of the company on the salary arrears, gratuities and pensions for some of our members who retired over four years ago without response.

    “We have also written to the Rivers State House of Assembly and heads of all the security agencies in the state on the matter, but the management has refused to hearken to our demands.”

    Vice-Chairman of MWUN, Murphy Unit, Fidelis Amaraha, noted that the neglected workers had no intention of  a full-blown strike, hence the peaceful picketing of the company.

    He called on the management to pay them, to save them from further suffering.

    The Taskforce Chairman of TUC and MWUN Richardson Chimenum accused the management of diverting pensions deducted from workers, without remitting them to IBTC, their pension managers.

    Chimenum said some workers had died, their children out of school, adding thatthose alive were finding it difficult to make ends meet.

    General Manager of the company’s Port Harcourt branch Mrs. Uche Iregbu said she was not competent to comment on the protest and workers’ demands.

  • Rivers company protests unpaid salary

    WORKERS of Murphy Shipping and Commercial Services in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday protested unpaid seven months’ salary, gratuities, pensions and other entitlements.

    The protesting workers, who are members of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) carried placards, demanding justice.

    Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Shipping, Clearing and Forwarding Agents (SSASCFA) Branch of TUC, Murphy Unit, Leonard Madu, told reporters that the alleged ill-treatment necessitated the peaceful protest.

    He said despite reaching out to the management, nothing was done in the last three months.

    Madu said: “We have written series of letters to the management of the company on the salary arrears, gratuities and pensions for some of our members who retired over four years ago without response.

    “We have also written to the Rivers State House of Assembly and heads of all the security agencies in the state on the matter, but the management has refused to hearken to our demands.”

    Vice-Chairman of MWUN, Murphy Unit, Fidelis Amaraha, noted that the neglected workers had no intention of  a full-blown strike, hence the peaceful picketing of the company.

    He called on the management to pay them, to save them from further suffering.

    The Taskforce Chairman of TUC and MWUN Richardson Chimenum accused the management of diverting pensions deducted from workers, without remitting them to IBTC, their pension managers.

    Chimenum said some workers had died, their children out of school, adding thatthose alive were finding it difficult to make ends meet.

    General Manager of the company’s Port Harcourt branch Mrs. Uche Iregbu said she was not competent to comment on the protest and workers’ demands.

  • Unpaid salary: Union donates 64 bags of rice to unpaid workers in Oyo

    The Federal College of Education Staff Union (COEASU) of Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, has showed solidarity with their colleagues at the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (EACOED) in the state, with a donation of 64 bags of rice to the unpaid workers.

    Recall that EACOED is one of the six state-owned tertiary institutions in Oyo State, whose workers have been grappling with irregular and fractional salary for more than two years.

    COEASU Chairman, FCE, Nureni Oladeji, sympathised with the workers of EACOED, over what he described as the hardship been faced as a result of the unpaid salary arrears.

    Oladeji appealed to the state government to promptly consider the payment of the accumulated arrears of 16 months to the workers so as to alleviate their sufferings.

  • Kwara teachers protest unpaid salary

    TEACHERS of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB) yesterday held a rally to protest their unpaid four-month salary and pensions.

    The teachers have not resumed for the 2018/2019 academic session.

    They marched from Ilorin Grammar School (IGS), Gari-Alimi, to Nigeria Union Teachers (NUT) headquarters at Asa Dam in Ilorin.

    The protesters, under the aegis of Concerned Teachers, accused NUT leadership of not having their interest at heart.

    The teachers, last week, warned that they would not resume until their requests were granted.

    The protesters locked the the NUT secretariat and the chairman’s office.

    Spokesperson of Concerned Teachers Abdulwahab Abubakar said: “We are here to tell the NUT chairman to go on air and tell the world that SUBEB teachers are not resuming until the backlog of our salaries are paid.

    “We have been denied promotion since 2013. They gave us two promotion letters that have no financial backing. I wonder why and how the government will be there and teachers will be hungry. Do they expect a hungry teacher to deliver a lesson properly in class?

    “Our patience has been exhausted. We cannot bear it anymore. That is why we are here to impress it on the chairman to announce our refusal to resume work.

    “As of now, we are waiting for the NUT chairman to do the needful, but unfortunately he is not around. They owe us over four months’ salaries, spreading from 2015 till date.

    “We will continue to protest and stay off work until the chairman announces our resumption of strike, or better still until our salaries and other entitlements are paid.”

  • Ekiti council workers issue strike notice over unpaid salary

    Local government workers in Ekiti State have said they will go on an indefinite strike, following Governor Ayo Fayose’s alleged lukewarm attitude towards payment of their arrears.

    The workers expressed dismay that they were owed seven-month arrears.

    Acting under the aegis of the Ekiti State Council of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), the workers said the industrial action will begin on August 23.

    Their decision to go on strike was reached at an emergency NULGE State Executive Council (SEC) meeting on Friday at the union’s secretariat on Iyin Road in Ado-Ekiti, the capital.

    In a communique at the end of the meeting, Ekiti NULGE condemned Fayose’s plan to employ 2,000 workers when those in the system were owed arrears.

    It reads: “The NULGE, Ekiti State branch, at its meeting held on August 17, wish to remind the government that out of the four demands of the union in its communique issued on July 25, only one of them was partially attended to, which is less than five per cent of our total demands.

    “The union wishes to reiterate that in spite of our agitation, the government only paid up to December 2017 salary, leaving seven months yet unpaid.

    “It is evident now that the government is insensitive to the workers’ plight because the union has it on good authority that the government is planning to add to the burden of the local governments by recruiting more hands to the teaching sector.

    “For the sake of clarity, the union has nothing against the recruitment into the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), but on condition that all salaries and other emoluments owed local government workers be paid before the commencement of the payment of the newly recruited personnel.

    “In view of the above, the State Executive Council (SEC) in session, therefore, directs all members of the union to stay at home indefinitely from Thursday, August 23, until further directives by the union.”

  • Ekiti college workers protest unpaid salary

    Ekiti college workers protest unpaid salary

    •It’s not true, says provost

    Academic activities have been paralysed in the last two days at the College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti as the institution’s workers protest unpaid eight-month salary arrears.

    The protest, which started on Monday, continued yesterday as the angry workers chanted solidarity songs and blocked the college’s main gate.

    The protest was spearheaded by members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) but was joined by members of the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).

    The workers accused the Provost, Prof. Mojisola Oyarekua, of allegedly holding on to three months salaries they claimed was released by the state government to offset part of the arrears.

    The Monday protest lasted about three hours during which the workers prevented vehicles from going in and coming out of the campus.

    While the protesters allowed students into the campus, no worker was given access.

    The action has disrupted the second semester examination that was supposed to start on Monday.

    But the protest assumed a frightening dimension yesterday when the workers shut the gate and tied palm fronds to it as a sign that “the place was a no-go area”.

    Many of them carried placards and fresh branches of plants.

    They sang: “Iya yi to, iya yi too, iya yi to Jesu ko ba wa lara mu” (This suffering is enough, it is enough, it is enough Jesus, it is unpalatable); “Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, we shall always fight for our rights”; “Awon to n ni wa lara Baba, ni won lara O” (Father, oppress our oppressors), among others.

    Some of their placards read: “We are dying of hunger, pay our salaries”; “No salaries, no exam”; “A Labourer deserves his wages”; “Madam Provost, pay our salaries”; “Denying workers of their rights is cruel,” among others.

    The workers said they would not resume at their duty posts until they received salary alerts.

    Addressing reporters during the protest, NASU Secretary Wale Animasaun said the decision for the action was reached at a congress held last Wednesday in which the college management was given up till last Friday to pay their salaries or face a mass action.

    Animasaun said the protest was not against the Ayo Fayose administration but against the college management, led by Oyarekua.

    He said: “The governor has released three months out of the salary arrears owed us, but the college management has refused to pay us. They used to give us net pay, but they have even refused to pay anything.

    “This is despite the fact that they are generating revenue from other sources, like the N2,500 each candidate pays as post-UTME fee, reparation fee students paid during the last riot and other miscellaneous fees.

    “We, the workers of College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti, are suffering. We will not allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to deny us of our legitimate rights.

    “This protest will continue until our demands are met. The exam that supposed to start on Monday (November 6) will be on hold. We want to plead with students to show understanding with us.”

    But Prof Oyarekua denied receipt of three months salaries from the state government.

    The provost maintained that the college authorities had not received any subvention from the state government.

    She said: “The allegation (of holding on to three-month salaries) is not true. In fact, I am embarrassed by the allegation because we have

    not got any subvention from the government.

    “A particular union is behind the latest crisis in the college. People are free to go and verify from the office of the Accountant General on the situation of things. We have not got any subvention from the government.”

     

     

  • UCH workers protest unpaid salary

    UCH workers protest unpaid salary

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU), University College Hospital (UCH) chapter, has protested the non-payment of October and November salaries.

    Chairman Okunola Abiade and Secretary Bolanle Omoboye said members could not continue working without pay.

    They also condemned their unpaid 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 promotion arrears, saying ‘’this is becoming a habit of the government.”

    They appealed to the Federal Government for their salaries and arrears.

    UCH’s  Chairman Advisory Committee Dr Victor Akinmoladun appealed to the workers to give room for dialogue.

  • Unpaid salary: Siasia issues NFF two-week ultimatum

    Unpaid salary: Siasia issues NFF two-week ultimatum

    SAMSON Siasia, Nigeria’s former under-23 coach, has given the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) a two-week ultimatum to settle its debt to him.
    Siasia says the NFF owes him five months’ salary arrears from the start of April to August 2016.
    The 49-year-old led the country to a bronze medal finish at the Rio Olympics.
    Barely five weeks after ending his two-year contract on a high, Siasia said his patience is fast running out.
    I have given them a two week ultimatum to pay me or I will sit inside the NFF office in Abuja until I get paid
    “I have given them a two week ultimatum to pay me or I will sit inside the NFF office in Abuja until I get paid,” Siasia told BBC Sport.
    “The national team is preparing for a World Cup qualifier and to be honest my unhealthy distractions are the last thing they need right now.
    “I’ve made it clear in my letter that my assistants and I should be paid the backlog owed because it’s inhuman.
    “As head of our families we sacrificed everything for the country but the NFF refused to pay us – it’s not only heartless but wicked,” he said.
    A top NFF official acknowledged the debt but said Siasia’s latest remarks are “unfortunate”.
    The NFF attributed the delay to the latest financial procedures which must be adhered to by all.
    “There’s a new financial procedure in place, which has not been concluded by the federation,” the NFF official told BBC Sport.
    “His latest outburst is just unfortunate but the process (to pay him) is still ongoing. There is no attempt to deny Siasia or his assistants their dues.”
    As a player Siasia won the 1994 Nations Cup and played for Nigeria at their maiden appearance at the 1994 World Cup.
    He was in charge when Nigeria finished as runners-up at the 2005 Fifa U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.
    He led the country to the 2015 African U-23 championship and also coached them to silver and bronze medals at the 2008 and 2016 Olympics football event.
    It is not the first time Nigerian coaches have been caught in the web of unpaid salaries.
    Recently the likes of Christian Chukwu, Shuaibu Amodu, Eucharia Uche, John Obuh, Austin Eguavoen, Stephen Keshi and Sunday Oliseh have gone to the media after seeking payment for outstanding salaries.

  • ‘Governors not to blame for unpaid salary’

    ‘Governors not to blame for unpaid salary’

    Adamawa State Governor Muhammadu Jibrilla has said governors should not be blamed for unpaid workers’ salary.

    Jibrilla spoke yesterday when he received traditional rulers, who paid him a Sallah homage at the Government House in Yola.

    Jibrilla said the dwindling revenue from the federation account made it difficult for states to pay salary.

    While noting that Adamawa was one of the states steady in paying workers, Jibrilla said workers in the state should appreciate the government for paying them when due.

    The governor urged traditional rulers to enlighten the people on peaceful co-existence and the need to go back to farm.

    He said Adamawa was among seven states selected for Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Anchor Borrower’s Rice production programme.

    Jibrilla assured them on government’s commitment to provide fertilisers to farmers.

    In their separate responses, the Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Mustafa and Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isa, hailed the governor for his effort to transform the state and assured him of the traditional rulers’ support.

  • Unpaid salary: Drama as Ekiti teacher steals pot of amala

    Unpaid salary: Drama as Ekiti teacher steals pot of amala

    •Workers relocate to villages to farm

    THERE was drama in Igede Ekiti, the headquarters of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area in Ekiti State, on Sunday after a teacher (name withheld) stole a pot of amala (yam flour meal) from a neighbour’s flat.

    The incident, which happened at Odogede area of the town at about 1.30pm, caused a stir among the locals who sympathised with the teacher, who works at Ekiti Baptist High School.

    It was gathered yesterday that the incident happened in a building made up of three flats.

    A source, who lived within the vicinity where the incident happened, said: “The incident happened at about 1.30pm on Sunday when majority of the residents had arrived from their churches and the teacher could not go to church because of the prevailing condition.

    “The neighbour on arrival at home prepared an amala, but unknown to her, the teacher had been watching and bidding her time when the owner of the food would leave the kitchen before she struck.

    “As the woman preparing the food left the kitchen, the teacher went there and stole the pot of amala and carried it to her room.

    “But owner of the food screamed and was startled to find the teacher and her two children eating the amala with palm oil.

    “The owner of the food, apparently touched by the action of the teacher, went back to her apartment and brought soup for the teacher and her children to eat to satisfaction.”

    The Nation also gathered that many civil servants have relocated to their villages to carry out farming because of the uncertainty surrounding the time they would be paid.

    Another source said: “Many of my colleagues had relocated to their villages and hometown to till the land and cultivate crops to keep body and soul together.

    “You know this industrial action is making us to devise means to survive, you know life is easier in rural locations and many of them have planted crops like maize, which can be harvested within three months.

    “Others are also cultivating cash crops as a fall back option anytime retirement comes. We just have to survive because this is not the best of times for civil servants.

    “I also know others who are now learning trades like fashion designing, photography, barbing, decoration, cake making and other crafts.

    “Those who combine business with government work and those who are clerics now have more time to practise their vocations.”

    Also yesterday, it was discovered that non-payment of salaries has led to the reduction of crowd at Automated Teller Machine (ATM) points in banks in Ado Ekiti.

    A bank worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the situation could not be unconnected with non-payment of salaries.

    He said: “Before now, some of our customers did not bother to ask for ATM cards, even including students. Some said it was easy to collect money through the counter than ATM, because of the long queue. But the situation suddenly changed. The request for ATM cards had increased.

    “I want to confirm to you that  the civil servants are the highest customers any bank can have in Ekiti and since their salaries are not being paid, patronage in terms of lodgments  and withdrawals  have reduced considerably.”