Arewa Youths Demand Probe of NNDC Over Delayed Payment of NNN Workers’ Benefits

By Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna

A group under the auspices of Arewa Youths Movement for Good Governance (AYMGG) has called on the Northern Governors Forum to probe the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) over its failure to pay the benefits of New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) workers despite approval.

According to the group, the NNDC has been slow in paying the benefits, which has led to a protracted public outcry. The North West Coordinator of AYMGG, Comrade Ibrahim Ahmadu, lamented that the NNDC’s actions amount to “institutional wickedness.”

The NNDC was mandated to sell the properties of NNN and use the proceeds to pay the workers’ benefits. However, the company has been accused of delaying the payment, leading to the death of 111 workers who were waiting for their benefits.

Ahmadu alleged that the NNDC wrote to the Northern Governors Forum demanding to pay NNN workers directly instead of transferring the bulk money to NNN to pay its workers. He also accused the NNDC of hijacking statutory deductions, including check-off dues.

Ahmadu raised several questions, including whether the NNDC is bigger than the Northern Governors Forum and whether NNN is under the NNDC. He also questioned why the NNDC demanded to pay NNN workers directly if it had no capacity to do so.

The group has called on the Northern Governors Forum to direct the NNDC to immediately release all NNN workers’ benefits to the company for immediate payment. They also urged the governors to set up a probe panel to investigate the NNDC’s activities and ask the management team and board to step aside.

According to reports, the NNDC owes NNN workers a total of N2,504,495,288.44, which includes outstanding salaries, gratuities, contract allowances, and statutory deductions

The Arewa Youths Movement for Good Governance has vowed to mobilize youths in the North West and North East to march to the Governors’ offices to demand action. The group believes that the Northern Governors Forum will discover “cans of worms” in the NNDC if it probes the company’s activities.