Again, staff of New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest at the company’s headquarters in Kaduna, to demand for their accumulated entitlements, while appealing to Northern state Governors to address their case before the elections.
The NNN workers made a personate appeal to the 19 Northern States Governors, who are the owner of the company, especially the Chairman and Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima to honour their agreement with them before the polls.
Recall that the Federal Government handed over NNN to the Northern states about 1996, and the company, has not remained the same since then. NNN had to stop publications a few years ago but is now operating an online version because most of the Northern state governments refused to give their monthly subvention.
Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), NNN Chapel, Dekera Nicholas told journalists that there was no better time for the owners to do the needful than now. “There was a recommendation by a committee set up by the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) to look into NNN issues and make recommendations.
“That committee has since done its findings and had submitted same including its recommendations to the owner for implementation. Now, part of the recommendations therein was that, part of the company’s properties be valued and disposed so that the proceed can be used to offset debts especially, the workers entitlements and put the company in good shape.
“While that was ongoing, the pensioners took the company to court thereby causing temporary stoppage of the initial plans. Now, the issue of pensioners had been largely resolved. Since those impediments have been addressed to a large extent, they should honour their promises. Some of our members are old people. They need money for their medical and other utility bills. Some of us could not pay house rent. We want the owners to come to our rescue,” he urged.
Some of the protesters were seen with placards with varying inscriptions such as, “Pay us our entitlements”, “Northern governors settle our entitlements now”, “Shettima act before you go”, “El-Rufai you can do something for NNN” among others.
