About 13 management and staff members of Vision Radio station 92.5fm Kano have quit their jobs due to alleged poor working conditions, a charge the station owners have denied.
The staff led by General Manager Adamu Ladan and Assistant General Manager Isyaku Turaki Maje announced their resignation in a letter addressed to the Group General Manager of the Abuja-based Vision Media Services.
The 13 signatories of the letter whose six-month probationary appointment was not confirmed for over two years urged the company to pay them their outstanding salaries and allowances.
It could be recalled that the Nigerian Union of Journalists chapel of the station had in March 2021 threatened to embark on strike over issues relating to salary payment and job standardization.
In a statement signed by the chairperson Samira Adnan and secretary Abdullahi Alkasim the NUJ complained of poor remuneration and lack of working tools in the station.
It also accused the management of failure to confirm the appointment of its members, lack of a scheme of service from headquarters to guide the administration and operations of the station, and lack of staff welfare packages.
The NUJ chapel also complained about inconsistency in the payment of salaries followed by a 30% cut due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the Group General Manager Vision Media Services, Iliyasu Abubakar told Daily Trust on Sunday that the company accepted the management’s resignation as a gesture of goodwill instead of sacking them for underperformance.
Abubakar said the management has failed to generate enough revenue to pay staff salary after two years of operations.
“Our stations in Sokoto and Gombe became financially viable in about six months while the Kano station is still dependent on funding from headquarters after two years.” He said.
He acknowledged that salaries had been cut and were not being paid on time as the Kano station management set its own salary scale and failed to generate enough to sustain its operation.
He added that all junior staff are being paid regularly from the headquarters and only management staff had outstanding claims.
“As I’m speaking to you now their paychecks had been issued and they will all receive their salaries by Monday”, Abubakar said.
He also denied allegations of poor working condition and lack of professional equipment.
“All our Kano equipment is brand new and we service the generator regularly. Their only genuine complaint was the issue of operational vehicles which we have since refurbished.” He added.
Moreover, the GGM said the headquarters had to impose normal financial controls on the accounts of the Kano station after it realized that the management was abusing its autonomy.
He said the headquarters had appointed a former staff of the station, Abubakar Abdulkadir Dangambo as the acting General Manager.
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