By Lawrence Duya.
Leaders of House Unions in Voice of Nigeria, VON, have threatened to shut down broadcast over non payment of claims and allowances running into billions of naira, by the Director General, Mr Osita Okechukwu.
Some of the leaders, who met in Lagos, to assess the situation, said the last option open for them is to down tools to press home their demands.
“Staff members are owed for several years in claims and Allowances without being paid and the Director General is showing no concern with utmost disregard to address it”
Past efforts and mechanisms put in place to settle the claims by former DG’s were jettisoned by Mr Okechukwu, who has no regard for staff welfare.
They accused Mr Okechukwu of spending over N30 million monthly to buy diesel for generators in Lagos and Abuja offices, a claim the union leaders want to be thoroughly investigated by anti -graft agencies currently probing allegations of fraud and contract inflation.
“How can Mr Osita Okechukwu claimed to be spending that huge amount every month to buy diesel at the detriment of staff claims and allowances in this anti -corruption era of Buhari administration?, they asked.
“When the present DG assumed office in 2015, he blamed the house Unions for the non-payment of claims, if that is the case, we can no longer wait and see bills being accumulated, drastic action must be taken to press home our demands”
Our checks revealed a tale of woes by serving and retired staff members, who cannot settle their personal expenses like hospital bills, children fees and other sundry expenses as a result of non -payment of claims/allowances owed them.
When contacted, the Director General, VON, Mr Osita Okechukwu told our Correspondent that the management has made efforts to reach a workable agreement with the workers, adding that at a Board meeting on December 3, 2021, the management agreed to pay an end -of- the- year welfare package of N10, 000 to each member of staff including Commissionaires, National Youth Corp members, IT and Artiste.
He said; “To be honest I inherited over a billion debt and incurred some claims due to high cost of energy to power 1.3MW Transmitter and paucity of funds. We agreed to pay in trickles as it will be unwise to stop paying for electricity and diesel, which means stopping broadcasting or go Dead Air.”
