NNN Workers To Northern Governors – Pay Us Our Entitlements

BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Staff of the New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN), Kaduna have cried out to Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Mr. Simon Lalong to pay them their accumulated salaries to save them from the untold hardship they are experiencing.

In a joint press statement signed by Comrade Friday Idoko, Funmi Aderinto, Usman Nasidi and Emmanuel Bello as Chairmen and Secretaries of the in-house unions comprising of members of Nigeria Union Of Journalists (NUJ) and National Union Of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Union Workers (NUPPPROW), decried the slow pace of process initiated in 2017 to sell assets of the company in order to pay off salary arrears of staff.

The NNN unions noted that following the delayed process, many of the workers had died while awaiting their unpaid wages owed by the Northern State Governors, stressing that those working are facing all manners of embarrassment from landlords, lack of feeding and inability to pay their children’s school fees.

The statement said that some money had been realized from sales of the company’s property and therefore appealed to the chairman of the Northern Governors to promptly direct the disbursement of the realized funds to the workers of the company to alleviate the hardship they have been subjected to.

While commending the efforts of the Northern Governors for ensuring the payment of the company’s pensioners who worked under the federal government, the staff stressed that the remaining staff equally deserve payment.

The statement further stated; “The Joint Workers’ Union of New Nigerian Newspapers at its Congress held on Tuesday, 25th October, 2022 is appealing to the Chairman of Northern State Governors Forum (NSGF), Governor Simon Bako Lalong to expedite action on the settlement of workers entitlements to save them from the present predicaments they have found themselves”.

The NN unions also expressed worries over workers plights due to non-payment of salaries for many years, saying that it has led to depression and deaths of over 103 staff awaiting their entitlements.

The statement said; “We are appealing to Governor Simon Lalong as a compassionate leader and head of the Northern States Governors’ Forum to use his good office to put smiles on our faces and those of our families by ordering the prompt payment from the available resources realized from sales of the company’s property in order to give hope of survival and our children”.

The NNN staffers further said that they have gone through excruciating hardship with many of their compatriots ejected by their landlords just as they can no longer pay their children’s school fees, lamenting that many have died due to one form of ailment or the other as a result of the harsh economic predicament they are subjected to as a result of the inability to get their payments.

The Staff expressed confidence in the leadership of the Northern States Governors to build on selflessness, passion to serve and commitment to the welfare of their subjects, adding that it is their collective conviction that their appeal would receive the attention it deserves for prompt payment of their entitlements.