About 106 former staff of New Nigerian Newspapers have died awaiting their benefits amounting to N2.1 billion.
Alhaji Sadiq Tela on behalf of Elders Forum and Friday Sule for Joint Union of the New Nigerian Newspapers announced this on Tuesday.
They said “following the recent out of Court settlement between Northern Governors Versus Albert Iweka and Co which was adopted on November 27, 2024 by the Federal High Court as facilitated by New Nigerian Beneficiaries, expectations were high given the extreme poverty orchestrated by these pending benefits. ”
The statement said the duo of Barrister Albert Iweka and Idi Sule all former workers of the NNN sued the Northern Governors Forum to court over payments of check off dues and later obtained a garnishee order that freezed New Capital Properties Limited (NCPL) account where the proceeds of sales of NNN assets was domiciled.
Tela and Sule said after the out-of-court-settlement, the case was squashed and all garnishee orders instituted earlier vacated and all parties duely settled except New Nigerian beneficiaries.
The statement said more than 100 days after the vacation of the 10 year-old court matter, all New Nigerian beneficiaries who served the 19 Northern Governors are groaning under the present economic hardship being experienced in the country.
The workers, however, praied the Secretary to the Kaduna State Government for facilitating strategic engagements with the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) and the Northern Governors Forum Secretariat.
“These efforts are consoling, but given the reality of the economic hardship, the over 800 beneficiaries who have almost 10,000 mouths to feed are in tears.
“The Northern Governors under the leadership of Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State have the deciding powers for the destiny of the 1,000 New Nigerian beneficiaries
“We seize this opportunity to beg our Northern Governors’ Forum to come to our aid as the death toll of NNN beneficiaries awaiting payment has reached 106 as at January 2025.
“In the spirit of Ramadan, we beg our Northern Governors to show mercy on our families as most of us are unable to Break fast,” the statement added.
