We received N400,000 as payoff after working for over 20 years –Disengaged port employees
Some former employees of the Nigerian Ports Authority in Apapa, Lagos, have bemoaned their poor remedy following their disengagement from service in 2015.
The ex-workers below the aegis of Pool Tally Clerks and On-Board Safety Males stated they had been paid between N200,000 and N400,000 by Maritime Employees Union of Nigeria as gratuity after spending many years in service.
It was learnt that those that spent 10 years in service got N200,000 whereas those that had put up 20 years of service and above received N400,000.
Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, had on September 5, 2019, accepted severance packages for the ex-workers and directed NPA and MWUN to impact the funds.
The affected ex-workers informed Sunday Particular throughout the week that they had been shocked when the union paid them N400,000 in January, noting that they’d petitioned the Nationwide Meeting, Ministry of Transportation, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Security Company and Inspector-Basic of Police.
The spokesperson for the disengaged employees, Adeshina Olayiwola, nonetheless, stated they’d not received any response to their petition.
He stated a lot of his colleagues discovered it arduous to pay payments and cater for his or her households.
Olayiwola acknowledged, “Think about somebody who spent 10 years in service being paid N200,000 as entitlement. I spent 25 years and I used to be paid N400,000. We wrote to the Nationwide Meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, NPA and NIMASA 5 months in the past, however up until now they haven’t responded.
“We was once below the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Later, we had been moved to the Ministry of Transportation. A few of our persons are dealing with well being challenges, some have died and others are struggling to pay payments.”
An 80-year-old ex-official, Mr Julius Babalola, who joined the port in 1987 as a safety guard, stated the disengagement got here unexpectedly, lamenting that the N400,000 he was paid was not commensurate together with his years of service.
He stated, “We’ve got been receiving information of our colleagues’ deaths since we had been disengaged. They gave me N400,000 in January which isn’t honest. I’m an aged man with out something tangible to point out for what I laboured for throughout my 28 years in service. It’s my kids which can be caring for me. A few of us at the moment are sick. At this age, I want correct care which requires cash.”
One other disengaged employee, Paul Nwokporo, who spent 26 years in service, stated he suspected foul play on the a part of the union.
The 52-year-old man stated it was very powerful for him to cater for his household with the meagre revenue he realised from his present job – farming.
He stated, “No authorities would pay somebody like me who labored for over 20 years N400,000. I’ve 4 kids. Three of them have completed secondary faculty however I don’t have the means to ship them to larger establishments.”
Ajibade Okanlawon, 70, believed that the union didn’t give them what was as a result of them.
“The union shouldn’t be the one to pay us. NPA and NIMASA which can be presupposed to be concerned within the cost didn’t present up on the day we had been paid. I received N400,000 after working for over 20 years,” he added.
A septuagenarian, James Adegoke, who lives within the Mushin space of the state, stated other than the poor severance pay, a few of them labored for an additional three years with out being paid.
He defined, “The union initially informed us that the NPA would give us large cash that we may use for one thing affordable. Ultimately, we had been paid N400,000. We had been initially 1,650 in quantity however the quantity was elevated to three,100 to accommodate different ex-workers who weren’t a part of us.
At the moment, I owe a yr and a half hire. Two of my kids are in larger establishments however I’ve no means to pay their faculty charges.”
A former pool clerk, Samuel Awoniyi, 72, acknowledged that the union was an impediment “denying us of our entitlement from the NPA.”
The MWUN President-Basic, Waheed Adeyanju, stated the problem had been there earlier than he got here on board, claiming that it was the union that appealed to the NPA to pay the ex-workers severance packages.
He stated, “The case was in court docket. What we did was to withdraw the case from court docket and we sat with the administration of the NPA. They had been in a position to pay them severance packages. They had been all verified throughout the nation’s seaports. They had been informal employees; not everlasting workers members of the NPA and the union was not concerned within the cost.
“The directive got here from the Ministry of Transport to NPA which paid every of them N400,000. The NPA, the union and their contractors did the bodily verification of the statuses of all the employees. They had been about 2,000. They’re severance packages, not gratuities or advantages.”
When informed that the ex-workers had been in some unspecified time in the future full workers members of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Transport respectively, Adeyanju stated the declare was not tenable as a result of “a personal firm has been granted a concession to handle the NPA”.
“It’s not the NPA that’s paying the employees. The 2 years arrears (after the disengagement) have been paid,” he added.
NIMASA Director Basic, Bashir Jamoh, directed our correspondent to the company’s spokesperson, whose cellphone quantity he promised to ship. He, nonetheless, didn’t ship it.
A NIMASA official, who didn’t disclose her title, stated, “I can’t touch upon that (the poor severance packages) proper now. You aren’t one of many disengaged tally clerks. They’ve their representatives who we’ve got been speaking with. Proper now, I can’t provide you with info on something regarding that. If there may be any info you need, write to the company.”
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