Employees of the New Nigerian newspapers have petitioned Simon Lalong, Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, to reimburse firm employees for their accrued wages and benefits.
Comrades Friday Idoko, Funmi Aderinto, Usman Nasidi, and Emmanuel Bello, in their capacities as Chairmen and Secretaries of the in-house unions, jointly signed a press statement on behalf of hundreds of workers, criticizing the glacial pace of a process that was started in 2017 to sell company assets in order to pay off staff salary arrears and other benefits. Many of the workers had passed away while waiting for their unpaid wages, which Northern State Governors owed them for more than a century.
The statement said that the company had realized a sizable sum of money from the sales of its property, and it urged the governor of Plateau State to immediately direct the fund’s distribution to company employees in order to lessen their hardships.
The statement did, however, commend the Northern governors’ efforts in seeing to it that the pensioners of the corporation who had worked for the federal government were paid.
At their congress on October 25, 2022, the Joint Workers’ Union of New Nigerian Newspapers urged His Excellency Simon Bako Lalong, Chairman of the Northern State Governors Forum (NSGF), to move quickly to settle worker entitlements.
“The Joint Union, which is made up of members of the National Union of Printing, Publishing, and Paper Products Union Workers (NUPPPROW) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), New Nigerian Chapel, expressed concerns about the conditions of workers as a result of years-long salary nonpayment, which has led to depression and the deaths of over 103 employees who were waiting for their benefits.
“As the leader of the Northern governors and a kind leader, we are pleading with Governor Simon Lalong to use his excellent office to make our families and ourselves happy by directing a fast payment from the funds realized from the company’s property sales.
“We have been through a lot of hardship; many of our compatriots have been ejected by their landlords, many could no longer pay their childrens’ school fees, many have died due to one form of ailment or the other as a result of economic bottlenecks.
“Your excellent leadership, which is based on selflessness, passion for service, and dedication to the welfare of your subjects, has our utmost confidence.
