The Nation Newspaper

Tag: unpaid

  • Unpaid N650b subsidy claims threatening oil jobs

    Marketers have warned that the refusal of the Federal Government to pay them subsidy claims of N650billion would lead to more job losses in the downstream oil sector.

    The marketers, who spoke under the umbrella of the Major Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPMA, said the industry has lost many jobs as a result of the activities of militant groups in the Niger Delta region, pipeline vandalism, among others, adding that the sector may lose more, as the government fails to clear its debts.

    The marketers, who spoke to The Nation at various fora, expressed misgivings over the state of the industry as a result of the accumulated debts.

    DAPMAN Executive Secretary, DAPMAN, Mr Olufemi Adewole, said his colleagues’failure to service their debts meant that they would be forced to reduce their workforce again to remain afloat.

    He added that the crises in the sub-sector were yet to be resolved.

    He said: ‘’As long as the government holds on to the subsidies which they owed the marketers, they would continue to operate as fringe players in the industry. The unpaid subsidy at a time was N100billion; later it increased to N250billion until it got to N650billion. This is in addition to the interest rates, which banks are charging the marketers for not servicing their loans.’’

    He said the problem has forced members of the association to close some of their filing stations, among others.

    This, Adewole said, was affecting their operations, as they are unable to import fuel.

    The Chairman of Southwest Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, Mr Tayo Aboyeji, confirmed that oil marketers had been disengaging workers.

  • Unpaid salary: Varsity loses three staff

    •ASUU urges Fayose  to take action on arrears

    Three workers of Ekiti State University (EKSU) died in one week due to hardship occasioned by unpaid salaries, the local branch of the Academic Staff Union Universities (ASUU) has said.

    The union claimed that four workers died in the last two months in similar circumstances.

    ASUU Chairman Prof. Olufayo Olu-Olu, who addressed reporters at the weekend, urged the government to pay the seven-month arrears owed EKSU workers.

    The union leader said ASUU was crying out to refute the claim on the state radio and television by Governor Ayo Fayose that his administration was not owing.

    Olu-Olu said: “The situation at EKSU is very pathetic because three of our workers died in the last one week while four of our workers died in the last two months.

    “When people start dying like that, we have to take action because things are going out of hand. Our College of Medicine students have been here in the past eight years without graduation because there was no accreditation.”

    He regretted that although ASUU wrote to Fayose in August, urging him to take action on the arrears his administration owed EKSU workers, the governor had done nothing to alleviate the suffering of workers.

    The ASUU chief said the union had taken the sorry case of EKSU workers to traditional rulers, including the Chancellor and Alara of Aramoko, Oba Adegoke Adeyemi and Founder of Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN).

    He added that ASUU also reached out to the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN).

    Olu-Olu said the situation was compounded by massive recruitment of workers without corresponding increase in subvention.

    According to him, EKSU’s monthly wage bill oscillates between N450 million and N455 million, but the monthly subvention has been reduced by the Fayose administration to N130 million, from N260 million.

    He added: “It is undoubtedly expected that a state as ours, which exists to manage poverty, should watch its spending, especially in this period of economic recession, but the situation at EKSU is different.

    “Different game players within and outside the ivory tower have been overloading the ‘EKSU ship’ to a point that all have started expressing fear of a ‘shipwreck’ comparable to none ever witnessed before.

    “Within the last one year or so, the number of additional workers has almost caught up with total number of employees since inception without any increment in budget allocation to the institution.”

  • Unpaid salary: Labour hails Buhari’s knocks for governors

    Unpaid salary: Labour hails Buhari’s knocks for governors

    Organised Labour has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for condemning governors who are still owing their workers despite several bailouts.

    At separate events, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and National Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigerian (NUTGTWN) said the President had shown a rare value by telling governors the truth on how he felt about their failure to pay salaries and pensions, despite the Federal Government’s interventions.

    The TUC also floored some governors for asking for the release of 50 per cent of the Paris Club loan refund, even when they could not account for the tranches released to them.

    The union lamented the plight of workers in the states and the need for urgent attention as many could barely survive.

    “For us, President Muhammadu Buhari was right when he expressed surprise on how some governors manage to sleep soundly when workers have not been paid their salaries for months. The president even wondered how the workers feed their families; pay their rents and the school fees of their children,”the TUC said.

    TUC President Bobboi Bala Kaigama said the Congress believed that the President asked these vital questions because he still has his conscience intact, noting that most of the nation’s political leaders have sold their conscience.

    “They don’t feel our pains neither do their children and cronies. What is N18,000 (Eighteen thousand naira) when juxtaposed with the prevailing economic realities in the country? It is a pity our governors prefer statues of foreigners to our health, children’s education, job creation and other meaningful activities that help build a strong society.

    “We believe in the President, but he alone cannot do it. Efforts to fight corruption have become a mirage. Experts have argued that one way recession can be addressed is when the wage of workers is increased; unfortunately the last wage increase we had was in 2011. Though due for review, but some forces who take delight in using our children as political thugs have refused. They want the status-quo (master-servant relationship) to remain.  They tell us that the economy is in recession yet it does not affect them,” he said.

    Kaigama urged the Federal Government to hold on to the money until the workers and pensioners were fully paid.

    “The governors are stock-piling the released fund somewhere waiting for 2019 election campaign, but we are going to surprise them. It is not going to be business as usual,” he said.

    NUTGTWN General Secretary Issa Aremu said it was laughable that the governors could have the effrontery to approach the President for another bailout when all they have received in the past were not used for the purpose they were meant for.

    The labour leaders, speaking at the 29th Annual National Education Conference of NUTGTWN in Sokoto, said Nigeria’s case has become a one-day one-trouble-affair.

    “Only two weeks ago, some ministers made a case for “No Work No Pay” doctrine. Their argument was that they want to check the public service workers in the country. Just imagine, how do you tell a worker that has not been paid for six months to continue to borrow to fare himself or herself to job? How do you explain it that a country that is broke still pays twitter lawmakers over N29 million on a monthly basis. This is inhuman, wicked, derogatory and devilish,” he said.

    Aremu, who is also the vice president of the Industrial Global, said the government should endeavour to pay workers all they had worked for before trying to enforce the no work, no pay doctrine.

    He maintained that the governors should be seen supporting the Federal Government in reviving the economy and this could be done by paying workers their wages.

    “The workers are the consumers, if they are not paid where would they get the money to buy finished products from our industries. It is only when our factories thrive that the economy can rebound. The workers are the ones that support the artisans and other sectors of the economy. The importance of a living wage, paid as at when due, cannot be over emphasised,”he said.

  • Sweepers protest unpaid arrears

    Street sweepers employed under the State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) projects in Edo State yesterday protested their unpaid seven-month arrears.

    They abandoned their duty posts in parts of Benin, making the city to be dirty.

    The protesters carried placards, which read: “Pay us our money”, “Seven months of roads and streets sweeping no payment”, “Pay us our money of seven months of roads and streets sweeping without payment,” Commissioner for Environment where is our money? Pay us our money”. “God win oh, Governor Obaseki, hear our cry’’, “Pay us our money’’ and “Commissioner for Environment where is our money’’

    The sweepers walked from the Kings Square to the Government House.

    Their spokesperson, Ms. Magdalene Osemwenkhae, urged the government to pay them.

    Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu told the demonstrators that issues causing delay of the payment were being resolved.

    He said Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Osarodion Ogie was meeting contractors under the waste management agency to resolve the matter.

  • Ekiti doctors decry unpaid six months’ salaries

    Doctors in Ekiti State, under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), have decried the six months’ unpaid salaries owed their colleagues working in government hospitals.

    They said the situation was causing them serious hardship.

    The doctors called for the immediate payment of their salaries and effective funding of health institutions, particularly the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

    They said this would improve healthcare delivery and ensure that EKSUTH meets its core mandate in research and training.

    NMA’s State Chairman, Dr. Sunday Omoya, spoke at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, at an event marking the end of the 2017 Physicians’ Week and the association’s annual general meeting (AGM).

    Omoya said 300 people were offered free medical treatment by doctors at Ipole Iloro in Ekiti West Local Government Area within the period under review.

    The NMA chairman said the body also held medical education for rural dwellers on dieting, hypertension, HIV/AIDS and other ailments ravaging the people at the grassroots.

    He added that NMA was tightening the noose on quackery with the signing of an agreement with state government for the introduction of accreditation of health facilities to fish out operators of illegal medical centres.

    Pleading for the payment of doctors’ salaries, Omoya said: “We are pleading that even if all the arrears won’t be paid, government must bring us as per with our colleague civil servants.

    “As we speak now, six months are being owed while civil servants are owed five months. This is causing serious demoralisation to our doctors in all the cadres of health institutions.”

  • Aregbesola unhappy about unpaid workers’ full salaries

    Aregbesola unhappy about unpaid workers’ full salaries

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has expressed unhappiness over his administration’s inability to pay full salary to civil servants and political appointees.

    Addressing a team of Federal Government on the Digital Switch Over on an advocacy visit to the state, Aregbesola, who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa, stressed that not all the civil servants were affected by the partial salary payment.

    The governor said the nation’s economic downturn, which was induced by brazen corruption, wanton theft of crude oil and mismanagement of resources by the former Federal Government under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), put the state in its current economic doldrums.

    He said no reasonable person or government would be happy for being incapable of performing his or its responsibility.

    Aregbesola said: “We are not happy paying modulated salary to civil servants and political appointees. We are compelled by the financial reality; we are constrained.

    “Contrary to the lies you are being fed with, it is not all our workers that receive half salaries. Workers on levels One to Seven, being the most vulnerable and the largest chunk of the workforce, get full salaries. Workers on levels Eight to 11 showed understanding with the government to accept 75 per cent of their salaries.

    “It is only workers on Grade Level 12 and upwards that receive 50 per cent of their salaries. The workers have shown maturity, support and understanding. We acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifice and support of the workers.”

    Aregbesola said the financial burden on his administration was to enable it provide massive infrastructure to transform the state and develop it economically.

    The governor said Osogbo, the state capital, needed infrastructural development to have a look of a modern state capital.

    He said: “Before our government, Osogbo roads were very narrow. Since there was no development, there was no heavy traffic and the roads accommodated the users. However, there was an influx of people to the state since our administration came on board. There was a heavy traffic on Osogbo roads and they could not accommodate the heavy traffic anymore.

    “We started construction of new roads and rehabilitation of some existing ones to ease traffic. As a visionary government, we know that by the time our economic plan begins to grow, Osogbo roads would become busier. So, we come up with the construction of Osogbo East bypass road. The road has four big bridges.

    “Anybody who does not have business in Osogbo will take the road to various destinations. This will reduce the traffic on Osogbo township roads. We built the road for economic purposes. People who are narrow in thinking do not know that.

    “We know that things are hard and the state is passing through financial difficulty. But we are undeterred by the challenges. Our credo is to see that our people explore their freedom for economic prosperity.

    “Our joy is that we will leave a legacy that will transform into economic prosperity for the people and the state. Like the credo of our mentor, the late Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, we want freedom for all, life more abundant.”

  • Over N34bn unpaid taxes discovered by Reps

    Over N34bn unpaid taxes discovered by Reps

    Over N34 billion unpaid taxes have been discovered by the House  Ad-hoc Committee investigating the abuse of Pioneer Status Incentives granted by the Federal Government.

    From findings of the Jonathan Gaza-headed committee through documents provided by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), the total figure is from default by 29 companies between 2010 and 2015.

    At the hearing at the weekend, the disparity between the total amount of taxes paid by the companies in the records with the committee and that submitted by the FIRS made the committee call for an immediate reconciliation of the tax records of the invited companies and the FIRS.

    The FIRS documents show that a company, which manufactures premier feedmill/animal feeds and made total turnover of N237,257,192,713 between 2010 and 2016, defaulted in the payment of  N11,862,859,635.65 taxes.

    The company BagCo Morpack with a turnover of N4.219 billion between 2011 and 2012 instead of paying N410,196,550, as recorded against it by FIRS, paid N217,249,512.44 VAT and also failed to provide financial statements.

    Another company, Golden Penny Rice Limited, with N13,129,379,000 turnover in 2013  ( which should have paid N756,468,950)  paid N25,000 VAT with an unpaid balance of balance of N656,468,950.

    Celplas Industries Nigeria Ltd, with N6,933,152,474 turnover, paid only N129,893,493 against total tax of N346,657,623.70.  Thai Farm International Ltd which had N1,592,071,356 turnover between 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015 did not pay N79,603,567.80 VAT;

    The representative of Bagco Morpack Nigeria Limited and Premier Feed Mills Company Ltd, Joseph Umolu, while speaking before the lawmakers said Bagco Morpack Limited was incorporated in 2006, applied for PSI on the 1st August, 2008.

    According  to him, two years extension was granted the company even though it requested for three years PSI.

    The company, he disclosed invested N2.4 billion into upgrading of facilities and produces 32 million sacks per month with all taxes duly paid.

    Umolu said the new investment was the reason the company was granted the two year extension in order to enable the use of local raw materials and that they had no significant savings.

    He said the alleged N11.863 billion unpaid tax between 2010 and 2016, couldn’t have been feasible as the company only saved over N320 million during the period under review.

    But members of the committee wanted to know why the company failed to file its financial statement in line with financial regulations requirements.

    Gaza, while addressing the  companies representatives at the hearing, said : “We are not going to hesitate from recommending recovery of every penny not paid. That you can take to the bank.”

    Gaza,  in a precious engagement with the beneficiaries of the PSI, noted that there were allegations that the scheme was riddled with corruption and said the committee was determined to “unravel every iota of corruption that is making the country we love so much to bleed.”

    He expressed concern over the huge amount of unpaid taxes by the beneficiary companies, adding that any of the companies and public officials involved in the illegal extension of the PSI would be handed over to relevant anti-corruption agencies for prosecution and recovery of the taxes due to government.

  • Firm, contractors quarrel over unpaid N400m debt 

    Firm, contractors quarrel over unpaid N400m debt 

    •  •Spokesman: They should be patient, we’ll pay soon 

    Aggrieved contractors and Conoil Producing in Koluama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are in a row over unpaid N400 million debt.

    The contractors have threatened to shut down operations, if the firm failed to pay them.

    The indigenous contractors, under the aegis of Conoil Ango Field Marine Spread Contractors, said the company had not paid them for about 10 months for the barges and tugboats they hired.

    The contractors, in a petition sent to the management of Conoil, said despite waiting from December 2016 to September 2017, the company is yet to pay them for their services and equipment.

    Those who signed the petition are Chief Amadein Moses; Belief Leghemo; Mathias Sam; Tibiebi Amadein; Lloyd Sese; Christian Omietimi; Amos Imelekedi; Levi Wilson; Francis O. Francis; and Boma Leghemo.

    They claimed the debt is causing crisis in the community, adding that they can no longer contain the anger of indigenes.

    The petition was also sent to J.T.C. Leghemo, a traditional ruler; chairman of Oil and Gas in Koluama clan; 16 Brigade Commander in Yenagoa, Bayelsa; and the commander Gunboat in Bayelsa.

    It said:  ’’This is to bring to your notice again that the marine spread payment has taken too long and that we plead with you to please, effect our payment without delay. We have been waiting for almost 10 months.

    ‘’We, the indigenous marine equipment contractors, have resolved that if we do not receive any reasonable months’ payment this week, we will have no other option but to prevent your flowstation equipment or materials from entering our locality, Koluama, to your site.

    ‘’This is not a threat but it is a task that must be done, we have run out of patience. If you like, you can kill us with state apparatus, we are ready to die.’’

    Speaking on the development, the Contractors’ Coordinator, Chief Amadein Moses, said their patience had been overstretched, urging Conoil to do the needful to prevent problems.

    Conoil’s Public Affairs Manager Mr. Richard Edegbeai admitted  that the company is owing the contractors.

    But he appealed to them to exercise patience, saying the company was making efforts to pay.

    He criticised them for going to the media, adding that when they were promptly paid, nobody heard about it.

    Edegbeai said: “The ones they have collected before, did they go to the media houses to report that Conoil was paying them promptly? I do not understand them. If you are doing contracts, and for one reason or the other, there is delay in payment, they should understand.

    ‘’When it was good, nobody heard. They did not go to any place to report. Yes, it is true we are owing them and we are processing the money. A cheque of N200 million was to be given to them last Friday, but somehow, the cheque did not come on time.

    ‘’Why are they going all over the place, complaining? What about other contractors that we are also owing? There is no country that is not owing. Even America is owing. So, they should be patient.

    ‘’And because they are a community, they forced these marine spreads contract on us. Some of the barges we are not using, but we pay for them just because we want to upgrade.

    ‘’So, they should be patient. If they do not want to be patient, they know the best place to go, that is the court. And the moment they go to court, what it means is that they have frustrated the contract. I think patience is the keyword. By the grace of God, they will get their money soon.’’

  • Unpaid N200bn

    •No justifiable reason to deny civil servants arrears approved by the President and National Assembly

    Has the failure to pay salaries in the states infected the Federal Government which controls over 50% of the nation’s revenue? The central government that had twice provided bailout to states to pay their workers and ensure they are able to meet their personal and family responsibilities now seems unable to pay federal civil servants’ death benefits and arrears for promotion.

    According to the president of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), who said failure to pay death and promotion benefits subsists even after approval by President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly: “We wrote to Mr. President; he responded positively and then directed the Office of the Head of Service to sit with us and work out the details. The details were worked out through the MDAs and our representatives at the MDA level and submissions were made to the Office of the Head of Service …That was done, then the National Assembly approved a virement but a chunk of the money was earmarked for the settlement of part of these arrears. …”

    It is not clear what the ministers of finance and budget say on the claim that N200 billion approved for payment of arrears to civil servants had been used for other things. But what is patently clear is that the workers have suffered too much in the last two years and need not be subjected to more suffering at a time that both ministers are assuring the country that recession is on its way out.

    It is wrong for the Federal Government to deny prompt payment of death benefits and raise in salary for well-deserved promotions to workers or their families. Further, it is necessary for it to disclose what has happened to the approval by the president for payment of the arrears. Keeping mum over this urgent matter is not a good option for any government, more so one elected on the platform of change.

    Senior civil servants are traditionally not known for choosing to go on strike frivolously, as they see themselves as co-partners with politicos in the business of governance. And this is as it should be with professional bureaucrats. It will, therefore, be gross insensitivity for the government to fail to come to immediate agreement with ASCSN on this important issue. If the situation is allowed by the Federal Government to fester to the level of strike, it will be one of many avoidable strikes and an unnecessary dent on the government’s image.

    For any government to delay payment of death benefits is callous and deplorable. Civil servants, indeed all government workers, deserve to be paid their entitlements as they become due. Denying or delaying payments of workers’ salaries and related benefits seems to have become second nature to governments at all levels in the country and for far too long. Nigeria has become an egregious example of a country in which workers are frequently subjected to indignity and suffering before they are paid their entitlements.

    For example, many pensioners had died on queues while waiting to complete formalities that governments had turned into annual rituals. No human culture condones denial or delay of benefits to which workers or their families are entitled, especially when such families are under stress of loss of loved ones. Except in times of extreme national emergency, there is no excuse for workers to be denied their entitlements: salaries and pension benefits, after serving their country in their productive years.

    It is, however, remarkable that a committee has already been set up to look for settlement on a matter that can develop into a major image problem for the government, should senior civil servants resort to strike. We urge the Federal Government to come up with workable solutions to the problems and commit sincerely to immediate implementation of agreements with ASCSN, after which there should be no excuse for not honouring contractual obligations.

  • Benue State: Unpaid salaries

    SIR: Benue State civil servants are prematurely dying of hunger, especially those with complicated health issues, as a result of unpaid salaries.

    According to a reliable source from Benue State Teaching Services Board, the state owes about nine months for the local government workers and four months for the state workers.  Also, a retired civil servant at the local government level said since her retirement in 2009, she has not received a dime as part of her gratuity and she finds it difficult to solve most of her problems, including health problems, and cannot boast of a decent accommodation after serving the government for a good number of years.

    It is worthy of note that governors are sworn in using either the Bible or Kura ‘an. But with the apathetic attitude, it’s a subject of speculation as to whether the leaders in question who starve civil servants of their wages for months are aware of this particular portion of the Bible that says: “Do not take advantage of anyone or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for a night.” (Leviticus 19:11-13).

     

    • Thomas Terungwa-Kumba,

    Makurdi