Sacked NIMC staff protest over unpaid benefits

The demonstrators, in their numbers, blocked the road leading to the commission’s headquarters at Wuse Zone 5 in Abuja chanting solidarity songs.
Speaking to our reporter, spokesperson for the disengaged staff, Mr. Fidelis Ushei, accused the director general of refusing to pay them their entitlements despite the approval by the National Assembly and the promise he made to them on it.
“We had about three meetings with him [DG] and promised our delegation including me that he will pay us. But up till now he refuses despite the letters we have been writing to remind him on the promise he made to us,” he said.
Another demonstrator, Jibril Ismail, said that he worked for eleven years before his sudden disengagement with other staff adding that they forwarded their complaints to relevant authorities including the National Assembly, which approved the payment which the DG refused to honour.
“I never knew that there is anybody in Nigeria that is above the law until this thing happened to us, imagine the DG of a government agency refusing to obey the directive of the National Assembly,” he added.
According to a source in the corporate communications department of the commission who spoke on condition of anonymity said they are aware of the National Assembly approval of the payment but there is no directive from the presidency.
He said that there was no money provided to settle the disengaged staff for now.