By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Minister of Labour, Employment & Productivity, Sen. Chris Ngige has deployed Thugs to attack the protesting Staff of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund at the Office Headqauters in Abuja.
Recall that the staff have been protesting against Salary Adjustment Delay
which was approved to commence by January this year being 2023
The protest started last Thursday when the workers shut down the offices of the agency across the 36 states of the federation and its head office in Abuja.
Workers of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) on Thursday shut down its head office in Abuja over a delay in the implementation of their salary adjustment
The aggrieved workers under the aegis of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (NUBIFI), stormed the NSITF office at the early hours of Thursday with loudspeakers, chanting and singing solidarity songs.
The protesters displayed placards carrying different inscriptions such as “Ngige again! Why you Always” “ Even Pensions are not remitted after deduction,” “Say no to old Salary regime,” ” Ngige don't kill NSITF,” and many more.
It was gathered that ASSBIFI, an affiliate of the trade union congress (TUC) and NUBIFI, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), have had several meetings with the NSITF management and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, but the meetings have failed to lead to the resolution of the dispute.
The protesting workers said that the NSITF management had agreed to begin the implementation of the new salary adjustment and review in January 2023, but kept shifting the date.
The protesters who came from the agency's different branches promised not to leave the environment until the needful was done, noting that it was now or never.
Some of the protesters complained that they were demoted because of the implementation of the new salary, yet they refused to implement it.
“I was demoted from level 13 to level 12 because of the so-called implementation and yet nothing is happening,” one of them said.
Bala Tijani, the National Vice President of the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) said that the workers were being humiliated.
“We are being humiliated; humiliation in terms of when you have an institution that has its last salary review about 10 years ago, 2013. Staff members in the name of this reviewed salary have been demoted. They refused to implement it after they have demoted people, it's painful,” he said.
Rather than having a decent Response and approach to dowse the situation, the Hon minister resorted to highering Thugs who are currently occupying the Promises of the Headquarters, ready to assault any protesting Staff on sight.
I was a staff of this same organisation but was rationalized in 2005 since then, there has been no pension adjustment, increements, repartation or refunds of employers was made till date, this Minister has succeeded in killing the fund