Workers of the Ajaokuta Steel Complex have expressed dismay over recent statement allegedly made by the Chairman of the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Alhaji Kola Belgore that the Federal Government was wasting N3.4billion monthly vote on Ajaokuta Steel Mill.
The reports credited Belgore as allegedly saying that government was currently paying workers for doing nothing at Ajaokuta.
Belgore, was alleged to have said this in Ilorin during an award ceremony in honour of the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba,
AIG Ambrose Aisabor, Corps Marshal of the FRSC and three other alumni of the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) Kuru, Jos.
In a swift reaction the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN) and The Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) at a joint press conference in the company premises yesterday said the comments were capable of discouraging willing investors and aborting the dreams of Nigerians.
National President of ISSSAN, Comrade Otori Malik Saliu, who addressed the media on behalf of the unions, said it is an attempt to blackmail the company, diminishing its real value to enable them purchase it as scrap.
Comrade Saliu said the reports were inaccurate; maintaining that workers have been toiling round the clock to ensure the company is not drowned by uninformed leaders’ comments.
In his words, "As responsible unions, we have had course to tell Nigerians several times that the role of some highly placed Nigerians on the Ajaokuta Steel Company is not only sad, but can be best be described as sabotage against Nigeria.
Saliu explained that given the calibre of audience, being members of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and the senior position of the author of the negative reports, it became expedient and instructive for the leadership of the union to set the records straight.
According to Saliu, "The screaming headlines in several national dailies that the Ajaokuta Steel Company staff were taking N3.4 billion monthly for doing nothing, is the result of outright ignorance of the agents of imperialists wanting to take Ajaokuta as scrap through blackmail."
He said contrary to the reports the staff strength of the company remain 2, 900, while their monthly wage bill stood at about N228 million.
Continuing, he said Belgore should have verified from the 2014 budget that is available for every Nigerian.
“As a banker he has access to information from the federal budget office. We state categorically that Mr. Belgore lied and misinformed Nigerians to the contrary, the fact remains that the monthly wage bill of the staff stand at N288 million while the staff strength is 2, 900."
Saliu said the staff have been patriotic to the level that even after their salaries were withheld for 13months they were still coming to work between 2009 and 2010 to protect and defend the steel plant.
The steel workers’ boss explained that the workers’ patriotism was to prevent vandalization and ensure that the underground water at the company did not submerge the plant facilities.
He pointed out that even the technical audit of the steel plant that was done in 2010 vindicated the staff as the company was given a clean bill of health.
