Tony Udemba and Emeka Anokwuru
It was a litany of lamentations in Lagos recently. Workers of Transport and Port Management Systems Limited (TMPS) pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari and the human rights community to compel their employers to pay their outstanding salaries of many years.
The workers alleged that many of them have been thrown out of their rented apartments and have been begging to feed their families. Some complained of having fallen ill on many occasions, even as their children have dropped out of school, owing to non-payment of school fees.
Daniel Ojile Gabriel, manager in-charge of clearance, spoke on behalf of the workers, regretting that all efforts to resolve the matter were rebuffed by the management.
His words: “Our journey started from 2010, when we were duly employed by Transport and Ports Management Systems, while the company started operations fully in 2011. Then I was appointed the manager in-charge of border operations, and all the staff worked diligently all through that period. They only paid us salaries for few months. After that, the salaries became irregular until they finally stopped.”
He said the company, which was appointed by the federal government to monitor and track all the cargoes and vessels entering the country, operated under an arrangement with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) at the initial stage when the workers were owed three months. He said the company subsequently shut down.
He noted that years after, the company resumed operations again, but this time around under an arrangement with the Nigerian Shippers Council, which represented the interest of the federal government.
Gabriel noted: “Under the new arrangement in 2016, workers only paid salaries for the months of January and February of that year, and since then, till date, no worker has been paid any salary. All we have been hearing are promises upon promises from the management of the company.”
He narrated how the workers went to the office one day only to discover that the entrance to their offices, located at the Nigerian Shippers Council Complex, Apapa, had been locked up without any clear explanations from the company’s management nor the Nigerian Shippers Council.
He further alleged that instead of paying their salaries, the management of the company kept shifting the blame on the federal government. “They said the reason we were not paid was due to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), which was then newly introduced by the Federal Government. We don’t want to meddle into what is going on between our employers and the Federal Government since we were not privy to the agreement between the two parties, but we abide by the Nigerian labour laws which, among other things, state that workers are entitled to their wages at the end of the month. And as professionals who offer services to our employers, we are lawfully entitled to be paid salaries at the end of every month. Sadly, here we are without salaries for several years now.”
Gabriel noted that the Nigerian Shippers Council has been aware of their predicament. “We have complained to them, and at a point, they promised to look into the matter, asking us not to go to court or the press while promising us some money. But later, they started reneging, instead of trying to resolve the matter.
“Since then, though we cannot access our offices, we have been going to the Nigeria Shippers Council Complex where our office is located, because there was no official communication from our employers notifying us to stop work. Our appointment is still intact, not terminated.”
He reasoned that since the workers employment letters read January1, 2016, it would be proper for the company to follow the proper channel if the workers were to be disengaged instead of playing hide and seek with them.
“We shall continue to go to work, though we are not allowed access to our offices. While we are faced with this big problem, we wish to make a passionate appeal to the Federal Government and the human rights community to compel our employers to offset the accumulated salaries to save us from further hardship,” he added.
He said it was unfortunate that a company they diligently worked for would hold on to their salaries for several years. He said as manager in charge of clearance, he was aware that the company was making money.
“There was a certain period the company made over $3.5m which was paid into the TSA of the Federal Government. Yet they continue to deny us our salaries.
“For many years, we have been fighting this battle by ourselves alone without results. We now urge President Buhari, the Inspector General of Police, the Association for the Protection and Defence of Human Rights(APDHR) and the entire human rights community and other concerned organisations and individuals to assist us get justice, so that as bread winners, our families will have some respite,” he pleaded.
One of the workers, Uche Onuoha said it was so wrong to be ill treated in such a way by a company that the workers devoted their time for.
“The management has, on many occasions, made several unfulfilled promises to pay us our salaries. They would schedule meetings, but they would not even show up,” he noted. He called on the federal government and law enforcement agencies to wade into the matter and save the workers.
Sunday Egwurube, another worker, said President Buhari should compel the company to do the right thing and save the workers and their families from the deplorable situation.
“As law-abiding citizens, we feel duty-bound to draw the attention of the Federal Government and the human rights community to the injustice been perpetrated against us by the company,” he said.
Eric Igweokolo, a lawyer and President, Association for the Protection and Defence Human Rights (APDHR), condemned the non-payment of the workers for too long, saying it was inhuman and against the constitutional rights of the victims.
According to him, “it is unfortunate to deny workers of their salaries without any fault of theirs. It is unconstitutional and against labour laws. When you look at the plight of these workers, and how some of them have been ejected by their landlords, how some of them can no longer afford to eat or pay the school fees of their children, among others, you will begin to ask what is really going on. The truth is that most businesses today in this country, both big and small, no longer value the well being of their workers, and it is unfortunate that government institutions that have the responsibility to regulate them are not doing anything. Hence there is a high rate of anti-labour practices going on everywhere in the country today.
“But as the protectors of the human rights of Nigerians, we are going to take up this matter and ensure that you get justice at the end of the day. While I enjoin you all to be law-abiding, we are going to study the matter properly and seek justice on your behalf through the nation’s legal system.”
Tony Falana, the company’s general manager, told the reporter that he was aware of the challenges being faced by the workers.
“I am an employee of the company just like them, and I also face the same salaries problems. I was recruited from my base in Canada, and I am not a co-owner or a shareholder in the company. In the past some of the workers have cried out to me over some of their challenges as a result of the salaries issues, and I had always helped out with the little from my personal resources. For long I have been unable to see the company’s MD, and whenever I put a call across to him, he refuses to pick my calls, neither does he call back. The situation is worrisome since my salaries are still been held by the company,” he explained.
When contacted on telephone by the reporter on the issue, Mr. Agu, Public Relations Officer of Shippers Council, declined comments. But an insider within the Nigerian Shippers Council, who didn’t want his name in print, said he was aware that the present government of President Mohammed Buhari inherited an existing agreement between the TPMS, which was contracted under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The source said that under the agreement, the company was appointed by the government as the sole representative to administer the International Cargo Tracking Note, which monitors and tracks cargoes and vessels entering Nigeria. He explained that under the agreement, Nigerian Shippers Council was representing the interest of the Federal Government, while TPMS acted as the consultant providing the tracking services, receiving payments for the services rendered, and paying into the government account. He stated that shortly afterwards, the company ran into serious problems with the Federal Government, which affected the continuation of its operations in the country