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Defence civilian staff may begin strike tomorrow
By Madu Onuorah (Abuja) and
Sunday Oliseh (Lagos)
FOR the nation's Ministry of Defence, these are not the best of times.
Its civilian staff who service the military cell, under the platform, Joint Action Committee (JAC), may from tomorrow embark on an indefinite strike over non-payment of entitlements- arrears of monetized benefits, as well as medical
and leave allowances to them.
This may pose a serious security risk to the nation's military and strategic interests. Already, there are threats by the civilians that they would shut down all military schools and hospitals. They have, therefore, asked parents, guardians and other family members who have their wards or patients in military schools and hospitals to evacuate them immediately.
For over three weeks now, civilian staff in all military formations outside Abuja, including tri-service and service educational, training institutions and military bases` have been on strike.
And from the activities and reactions in the Ministry of Defence Headquarters, Abuja, there is no immediate solution to the crisis. No staff of the ministry, including those in the media
department was willing to speak on the issue.
But a senior official told The Guardian: "Officially, we are aware of the problem. But we are handicapped. This issue involves money. We can only pay with what we have. The source continued: "We are not the only ministry that owes its staff. Most ministries owe. It is not peculiar to Defence. It just happens that we have more staff scattered all over the country. And by the nature of the ministry, we don't generate money as others. So, we can't be self-sustaining." He added: "We depend on government allocations. And when they don't come as and when due, situations like this occur. Truth is, no money has been released for payment of this money being owed. When we receive the money, we will pay".
For months, problems over the non-payment of entitlements have been festering. By the end of last September, the JAC had written the Minister of Defence, Musa Rabiu Kwankwanso, alerting him on the imminent crisis. In the letter signed by the chairman of JAC, Uche Aguize, Kwankwanso was told that:
- monetised arrears for the months of October, November and December 2003 are yet to be paid to all staff of the Ministry;
- May, August, September 2004 entitlements are yet to be paid to all the units and outstations of the Ministry;
- twelve and half percent arrears of January 2004 and its effect on rent subsidy for six months have not been paid;
- medical and leave allowances from October 2003 to September had not been paid to civilian staff of 81 Division, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), CFO Apapa and the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC);
- the old rate was used to pay leave allowance to civilian staff of the Navy; and
- that the salary of civilian staff of 2nd Division Ibadan had not been paid for the months of August and September.
Imploring the minister to urgently intervene, Aguzie said: "We wish to state here categorically that all the Ministry of Defence (MOD) units/outstations may be forced to take further action if the above-mentioned grievances are not addressed by October 2004".
In a follow-up letter to President Olusegun Obasanjo dated October 25, 2004, Aguzie stated that two categories of allowances that were being withheld are:
*
- that the October - December 2003 monetisation arrears, including the monetization shortfall from the month of August 2004, had been presented to the Ministry of Finance and the money approved for release by October 15, 2004;
- that the leave, medical allowances and one-month shortfall of monetization payments have been released to all the units - Army, Navy and Air Force.
He urged the President "to use your good offices to arrest the sufferings the concerned
workers and their families have been exposed to".
Last week, the national headquarters of the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU), the mother union of all the trade unions in the civil service, waded into the impending
crisis, resolving as follows:
- there will be protest rallies of all outstation staff in the Lagos Central zone, the MOD headquarters Abuja and all state capitals tomorrow;
- members of the international community, media, Labour, civil societies and other Nigerians are invited to witness the protests "against salary discrepancies in the same ministry, economic slavery, dehumanization, injustice and fraud by the unit accountants of outstations of the MOD";
- after tomorrow, all Command military schools, hospitals, workshops and other ministry units would proceed on total strike until all the arrears are paid in full; and parents and guardians are advised to collect their children from various military schools while those who have patients in military hospitals are asked to make necessary alternative arrangements to evacuate their patients.
In preparation for the rally, the trade union held a last minute meeting yesterday at the conference room of the Ministry of Defence, Moloney Street, Lagos.
At the meeting, two representatives of the Joint Action Committee of the Ministry, which include its President, Mohammed Shaibu, and his deputy Sylvanus Nwaiwu, came from Abuja and pleaded with the union leaders in Lagos and beyond to shelve the rally. They urged the workers to give the government more time but their pleas were rejected.
The union also agreed that after the rally, if their demands were not met, all workers would go for an indefinite strike.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director/Co-ordinator MOD Lagos Liason office, Mrs. Matse Orere, has written a letter to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Israel Ajao, informing him of the workers plan to hold A rally.
She urged the police to help in stopping the workers arrangement if their request to use the Defence building were not granted.
The letter is entitled: "Proposed mass rally by the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU) and staff members in all out station Units of Ministry of Defence, in Lagos and beyond on Wednesday 1st December 2004."
It reads: "I learnt that members of the Nigerian Civil Service Union being the mother union of all the other trade unions in the civil service, as well as out -station staff of the ministry of Defence are planing to undertake a rally on 1st December by 8 a.m. This is in protest over the non-payment of their monetisation arrears, medical and leave allowances inclusive.
"I am not sure if they have been given permission to stage the rally by you and I am, therefore, writing to inform you so that you could please take pre-emptive measure to protect government property and ensure security of life at the proposed venue of the mass rally scheduled to hold at the Ministry of Defence, Lagos Laision office, 1-3 Moloney Street, Lagos and 17/27 Moloney Street, Lagos respectively."
But Aguzie told The Guardian yesterday that no amount of intimidation from any quarter could stop the workers from staging the rally all over the country at any chosen venue.
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