New Nigerian Newspapers Sacks 30 Workers

The New Nigerian Newspapers (NNN) has sacked 30 workers as part of measures to reduce the company’s running cost.

The Managing Director of the company, Malam Tukur Abdurrahman, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Thursday that the affected workers were sacked for redundancy.

He said those affected included drivers, secretaries, radio, fax and telephone operators.

“We have drivers but no vehicles to drive. We even have a driver that is now blind. Also, we have secretaries to officers that do not exist and fax operators, which we no longer use.”

The managing director advised the sacked workers to present their documents to their contributory pension providers to get their entitlements.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), NNN chapter, Ibrahim Adamu, said those affected included six workers in Lagos and 24 in Kaduna head office.

Adamu said although the management of the company explained the reason for the exercise, the action was untimely.

He expressed concern about the exercise, saying some of the workers had just resumed from a four-month strike over outstanding salary arrears.

The chairman further said that the union would ensure that the affected persons got their entitlements.

“The standard practices is that if somebody has worked for you, the person is bound to be given everything. We insist that the affected workers have to be given their entitlements.”

He said the union had asked the management to reverse its decision on the exercise as it was untimely.

The chairman, however, said that the management had assured the union of settling the entitlements of the affected workers before October.

On workers’ outstanding salary arrears, the union leader said the management had paid only six months arrears, adding that the workers were still being owed eight months salary arrears.