The indications that the inability of the Federal Government to pay salary arrears of staff of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) may possibly stall the successful implementation of the Ogoni clean-up exercise.
The some of the staff of the company in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, on Tuesday, argued that the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan owed them three years salaries and “there is no possibility that this government will clear that backlog.”
Inability of government to pay the HYPREP staff may threaten the desire of the President Muhammadu Buhari government to implement the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report which he flagged-off at Bodo community of Gokana Local Government Area of the state on June 2, 2016.
The HYPREP staff blamed the non-payment of their salaries on the previous leadership of Diezani Alison-Madueke, ex-Minister of Petroleum, under which, despite so many meetings and promises, failed to fulfill its own part of the bargain.
The Hajia Mohammad, Minister of Environment, had owned up to the fact that the staffers of the agency were being owed.
Mohammed had reportedly held a meeting with the representatives of HYPREP staff a few weeks before the historic flag-off of the exercise but since then the staff alleged that nothing concrete has been heard as regards the actual payment of their salaries.
One of the members of the staff said in an interview said that the non-payment has led to untold hardship on the workers of the organisation.
Narrating their ordeals, he said, “On May 1, 2013, while on a field visit, three members of staff, Dr. Zaaki Labbo, Dr. Aloy Agunwa and Mr. David, died in a vehicle accident. The then national coordinator who was the lone survivor of the accident, sustained severe injuries and spent several months in hospital”.
According to him, “Some of the staff have had their children driven away from schools because they could no longer sustain their education even their welfare.
“There was this colleague who had to endure the death of his wife and baby during childbirth because he could not afford the N25, 000 hospital bill that was demanded of him to save their lives,” he said.
He, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on the Ministry of Environment to ensure that their salaries were paid without further delay.
“Some of us virtually run the offices from our pockets and there is no guarantee that they will refund the money we spent just in a genuine effort to serve our father land. The president should come to our aid by ensuring that this money is paid,” our source said.
Source who pleaded not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation expressed fears that if HYPREP staff could be owed this much, what becomes of the actual cleanup exercise?
“I only received one month salary since we were engaged in that assignment”, he said.
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