Former workers of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) under the aegis of the Nigerian Ports Authority Concerned Pensioners yesterday staged a peaceful protest at the NPA headquarters over the non payment of their benefits by the management.
The pensioners, made up of personnel retired in 2006, carried placards with various inscription such as ‘NPA is buoyant enough to pay us’; ‘NPA obey court order’ and ‘General Manager, Human Resource, Bukar must go’, among others.
Spokesman of the pensioners, Ayo Charles Binitie said the protest was embarked upon to register the retired workers’ displeasure over the insensitivity of NPA’s management to their plights.
Binitie had at a press briefing last week said that the agency had not reviewed their pension benefit in more than ten years, which according to him is against the constitution which states that pensions shall be reviewed every five years.
Speaking after a closed door meeting with the NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman who received the leadership of the aggrieved pensioners at the NPA headquarters, Binitie said the NPA boss promised to address their demands.
He said the management assured that a committee would be set up and will, within three weeks get back to the pensioners.
“We have finally met with the NPA Managing Director and she has listened to our demand concerning our benefits on the increase and she has conceded. All we have planned is that by next week Monday, if they have not attended to us, we would have shut down the port industry in Nigeria. But we thank God for a listening MD.
“We have discussed the matter and she has agreed that they will look at all what we have asked for and within now and the next three weeks, they will come out with figures and that has made everything possible for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Usman has urged staff of the agency to consistently engage in various forms of exercise during their leisure as well as eat foods that will boost immunity and enhance healthy living.
She gave the charge yesterday at the launch of the “2017 Work and Wellness” programme organised by the Health, Safety and Environment Division of the agency with the theme ‘Eat right and keep fit for enhanced productivity’.
General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment, Mohammed Yusuf while welcoming Usman to the event, said the programme is intended to remind NPA staff of the importance of good nutrition, physical exercise and other healthy habits.
He assured that the unit would continue to effectively perform its primary duty of guiding staff towards a healthy lifestyle in order to enhance productivity.
According to him, the management would prioritise the event especially as it concerns regular monitoring of individual staff’s blood pressure and well being.
Earlier, Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Davies Sekonte informed the gathering that the management did not hesitate to approve the programme in view of the benefit accruable to the workforce by way of improved productivity.
Copyright 2016 Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
Copyright Ships & Ports Ltd. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit given to www.shipsandports.com.ng as the source.
