…As FG pays oil marketers, freezes interest on loan***
Scores of street sweepers under the “Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI)” of the Lagos State Government on Monday protested their delayed salaries among other grievances, barely two week after staging an earlier protest.
The protesters, on December 5, staged a similar protest at
the Alausa Secretariat, barricading the road and urging Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode
to intervene to help stop their suffering.
The workers said that they would prefer to go back to the
status quo prior to three months ago, before they were transferred to the Lagos
State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).
The street sweepers, who again blocked the Alausa
Secretariat, said that they had to repeat the protest because the promises made
to them on December 5, especially over payment of salaries had not been adhered
to by the government.
According to them, the workers are suffering due to failure
of government to pay them their wages.
“Last week, when we held a protest to Alausa, we had a meeting with the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Mr Biodun Bamgboye, with the head of LAWMA and other government officials in attendance.where we tabled our grievances.
“The government team promised to get in touch with us on Friday but failed to do so, and every attempt to get in touch with the Permanent Secretary through calls and messages were not answered.
“Even when we visited his office on Thursday last week to
see him, we couldn’t see him after waiting for hours in his office because he
was not around.
“Yesterday (Sunday) we sent him a message telling him we
were coming today if they don’t see us and that is why we are here,” one of the
protesters, Mr Oluwatobi Adeyeye said.
Speaking with newsmen after addressing the protesters,
Bamgboye said that the ministry had already commenced the payment of the
protesters’ November salary.
The permanent secretary said that the approval for the
December salary had been received and the ministry was working on it.
Bamgboye told the aggrieved workers to compile the names of
those who by Thursday evening did not receive alert, saying such list should be
brought to him on Friday.
Bamgboye also said the other grievances of the protesters
were being addressed, adding that it was a problem of transiting from one
scheme to another.
“The scheme under which they have been operating is not the
same with the Civil Service scheme.
“So the process of transiting from one scheme to the other is responsible for
what other problems they have highlighted and it is being addressed; it is a
transition problem”, he added.
Some of protesters confirmed that they had started receiving
alert for November salary but expressed sadness over the delay in the payment
of their salaries.
They urged the Permanent Secretary to ensure that their
December salary was paid in time.
The grievances of the sweepers include lack of tools to work
with, health insurance, pensions, regularisation of appointment and provision
of ID cards.
The sweepers also frowned at working on Sundays,
non-observance of all public holidays, planned retrenchment, proposed reduction
of salary among others.
Meanwhile, Mr Henry Ikem-Obih, Chief Operating Officer, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) saysthe Federal Government has paid the agreed N236 billion as first tranche of theoutstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers.
Ikem-Obi, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja, saying
government, through the Central Bank, had directed banks to also freeze
interest on loans related to the scheme.
“Yes, I can confirm that the promissory note has been
issued; in fact, they were ready on Wednesday. The marketers got emails
inviting them to come and receive them on Monday.
“By the end of Tuesday, they were actually ready from the
Debt Management Office (DMO). We had a meeting with the CBN Governor on
Thursday and they were informed officially, the Director General of DMO was
there that they should pick up the promissory note.
“Most of them were waiting for that meeting with the CBN
governor, it went very well. one of the things that CBN governor has taken the
initiative to do is to ask the banks to freeze the interest on any
loan that are related to that scheme, the outstanding payment, from
end of June 2017 to date.
“Those are some of the additional concessions that
government has done,’’ he said.
According to him, all the promissory notes for this first
tranche will mature by 2019.
“The CBN governor will give the Liquid assets status; so, it
is as good as cash,’’ he added
Commenting on petrol scarcity, he said that at the moment,
the country had in stock 2.7 billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) that
would last for 54 days and still importing.
He noted that in terms of supply, the NNPC was very robust
and had never been this good in the least 10 years, at this time of the year.
“We are very good with distribution in terms of how much
products is on land because 2.8 billion litres is what is between Lagos waters
and land.
“Most Farm tanks cannot receive PMS at the moment; our
vessels have to queue for days to be able to discharge to the storage.’’ He
added
Also, petroleum products marketers had also confirmed
receiving payment of N236 billion from the Federal Government for the first
tranche of the outstanding fuel subsidy claims.
The Executive Secretary of the Depot and
Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), Mr Olufemi
Adewole, said, however, that the oil marketers still needed clarifications as regards
the payments made by the Federal Government.
“Yes, we collected promissory notes, but we need
clarification. DAPPMAN chief executive officers are reviewing the total
scenarios and would meet with the Senate Committee, which has been of so much
help to iron out things.”
He further confirmed that the payment was made via
promissory notes, adding that DAPPMAN was already reviewing the situation.
He confirmed that the petroleum marketers would be meeting
with the Senate Committee on Downstream to address other pending issues.
