AIT Staff Threaten Suicide Because Of Hunger

Life after GEJ has indeed become an economic
hell for Raymond Dokpesi and his Daar Group. It
has now become obvious that AIT has been
secretly funded by the past administration hence
the recent bankruptcy and inability to pay staff.
Few days ago, AIT workers resorted to publicly
protesting and begging president Buhari to
intervene and save them from imminent death due
to hunger. The staff claim that the management
have refused to pay their salary and alleged that
the non-payment of salaries was a deliberate
action from the management. [color=]The staff
threatened suicide if nothing is done.
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The eagleonline reports that the workers armed
with placards with various anti-management
slogans are fed up, the members of staff also
expressed shock that the management had
concluded plans to lay off some of the workers.
The protesting staff alleged that the management
was prepared to replace permanent workers with
contract appointments, adding that the steps
were anti-labour law.
Daily Trust reports that one of the workers who
pleaded anonymity claimed that the salary for
August, 2014 was paid on Tuesday, August 11,
2015. He claimed that when the management
paid any month’s salary, it would take another
five months before another payment was made.
“There has been no communication or excuse
whatsoever from management for non-payment of
staff salary. When they pay for one month, it will
take about four to five months before another
payment will be made,”
“A lot of people have left the organisation due to
this problem while more people are planning to
leave; yet the management are not bothered.
“We feel the non-payment is deliberate because
the money is there but we are not been paid.
“The non-payment is inflicting suffering on us
because we have families that we cannot cater
for, we find it difficult to feed, pay our children’s
school fees, house rent and other utility bills,”
He called on the Nigerian Union of journalist and
the federal government to look into the matter as
it was fast becoming unbearable.
“We are really suffering and some of us cannot
quit our jobs because there are no available jobs
out there.”
In a similar development, NUJ resolved to throw
its weight behind the staff of AIT and ThisDay
Newspapers who went on industrial strike action
to protest the non-payment of eight months
salaries.

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