Transport staff ask Buhari to probe Dangote, say he is underpaying for labour

Buhari

By Kingsley Fanwo

Lokoja – Transport staff of the Dangote Cement Company, Obajana, are at loggerheads with the management of the company over poor remuneration, threatening not to resume work until their demands are met.

The workers who barricaded the entrance gate on Friday did not allow some management staff to drive in to the premises.

The workers who chatted with Vanguard at the premises of the company in Obajana,Friday, asked President Muhammed Buhari to beam the anti graft light on the business Czar, Aliko Dangote because he is underpaying for labour, thereby exploiting them for his private gain.

They called on Presidency to implore Alhaji Aloko Dangote to implement workers’ welfare measures and look into demands for salary increment in view of the economic situation which is biting hard on their families.

A worker who simply identified himself as Chizoba said they are the ones doing the work which has rated Dangote as one of the richest in the world.

“We implore the President of Nigeria to advise Alh. Dangote to place the workers’ welfare on the front burners to ensure industrial harmony at the company. We cannot be working for one of the world’s richest men who will in turn, be paying us peanuts as salaries”, he said.

The workers said it was unacceptable for management to be paying them N20,000 naira per month when some of the management staff earn as high as a million naira per month.

They said they cannot be slaves in their own land.

“For more than 5yrs the company had been promising us increment and promotion. ”
Another staff Usman Garuba said they have been working for years in the company and the management kept promising them better welfare packages but have failed.
“The last meeting that we held with the management they promised to implement the salary increase within one week but they have failed.

“We added two days and now another one week has elapsed. We demand that a top management officer from the head office come to address us if not we are going to continue the current strike”.

The workers said they are ready to go to any length to achieve their objective.
“Some of us are taking N25000, some N30000 and some N40000.

They are paying the expatriates N2M monthly. If they don’t need us let them sack us”, Garuba said.

Efforts by our reporters to get the management’s side of the story were rebuffed as they all declined comment on the issue.

Vanguard