Economy
Ex-Nigeria Airways Workers Petition Buhari Over N78b Severance Pay
**Decry tussle between Sirika, Dikwah
**700 ex-workers dead
Worried by alleged face-off between the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika and Chairman, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Dikwa, over the disbursement of N78 billion severance benefits, former workers of Nigeria Airways based in Accra, Ghana, Lome, Togo, Yaounde, Cameroon, Benin and Gabon, have petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over their plight.
The workers, Emetule Fina (Gabon); Eno Mao (Gabon); Ndoke Hannah (Cameroon); Bareng John (Cameroon); Afandomi Raymond (Benin); and Mensah Teteh (Togo) in a petition to President Buhari, commended him (President) for approving the payment of final entitlements of the ex-workers.
They, however, flayed the power tussle between Sirika and Dikwah, as the major cause for the delay, alleging that no agreement had been reached on who and what to pay.
They equally alleged that while the chairman of PICA is bent on reducing the N78 billion approved to N43 billion with N2 billion interest as the paying body, the Minister of State for Aviation insists on the payment of the full N78 billion with one percent to the paying body, describing what is playing out as greed in interest is the reason for the delay to pay the suffering staff.
They stated that it is against this backdrop that they are appealing for Buhari’s quick intervention to find a solution in what they described as power struggle for the Minister of Finance to release the funds in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since two years to the workers.
According to them, “We the west coast staff of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited; from Libreville (Gabon); Douala (Cameroon) Cotonou (Benin); and Lome (Togo), wish to thank God for your healing and bringing you back to Nigeria to continue the good work you have for Nigeria, which other African countries may have to copy.
“We wish to thank you for approving the payment of final entitlements of the ex-staff of the defunct airline. What a great joy it was for a long awaited exercise.
“Your Excellency, sadness is already beclouding our joy, due to the prolonged delay to execute the payments.”
President, National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Muhammed Safianu said recently that the union would officially write Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to intervene in the matter; and ensure that the final several packages of N78 billion was paid to the workers.
He confirmed that an inter-ministerial committee set up by the government to come out with the actual amount of money to be paid the workers, had come up with the N78 billion to over 6,000 employees of the liquidated carrier.
The committee, he added, also recommended one percent administrative charges, totalling N735 million to any government agency that would disburse the funds to the ex-workers.
According to him, PICA, in its recommendation to the government, reduced the sum to N43 billion, but increased the administrative charges to N2.1 billion without any recourse to percentage as recommended by the inter-ministerial committee.
He said: “The final severance packages to the former workers was N78 billion; and the inter-ministerial committee set up for that purpose recommended one percent administrative charges to any government agency that would carry out the disbursement.
“But, all of a sudden, PICA showed interest in the payment and reduced the sum to N43 billion. It, however, increased its administrative charge to N2.1 billion. What we want to do right now is to involve NLC. We want them to intervene in the whole matter so that people can get what they rightly deserved. In a matter of days, we will send our documents on the issue to NLC.”
However, a source close to the Ministry of Transport has claimed that the power tussle between the Minister of State for Aviation, Sirika and the Chairman of PICA, Mr Mohammed Kyari Dikwah, may be responsible for the delay in payment of the final severance packages to the former national carrier workers.
According to the source, Sirika, in a meeting with the former workers of the defunct national carrier earlier in the year, had promised that the beneficiaries would get their severance packages by last March, but regretted that the misunderstanding between the duo, is causing untold hardships on the workers, who had lost at least 700 of their members since 2003, when the carrier was liquidated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The source alleged that the non-payment is stalling the commencement of a new national carrier for the country as promised by the government in 2015.
By Dipo Olowookere
A 1.08 per cent growth was further printed by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday on improved appetite for Nigerian stocks.
Data showed that the insurance sector lost 0.61 per cent yesterday due to profit-taking as the energy space gave up 0.08 per cent, while the commodity counter closed flat.
However, the industrial goods landscape appreciated by 2.06 per cent, the banking index improved by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.83 per cent.
At the close of business on Customs Street, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 1,563.92 points to 147,040.07 points from 145,476.15 points and the market capitalisation went up by N996 billion to N93.722 trillion from N92.726 trillion.
UAC Nigeria led the advancers’ log yesterday after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N96.80, Transcorp Hotels jumped by 9.71 per cent to N172.80, Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.89 per cent to N1.96, Ikeja Hotel soared by 8.74 per cent to N31.10, and Veritas Kapital leapt by 8.07 per cent to N1.74.
On the flip side, Union Dicon declined by 10.00 per cent to N6.30, ABC Transport slipped by 9.88 per cent to N3.10, AXA Mansard depreciated by 7.19 per cent to N12.90, FTN Cocoa lost 4.62 per cent to trade at N4.75, and Guinea Insurance dropped 3.36 per cent to finish at N1.15.
A total of 38 stocks ended on the gainers’ table and 17 stocks finished on the losers’ table, representing a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Traders transacted 361.6 million equities for N14.8 billion in 21,051 deals yesterday versus the 1.9 billion equities worth N19.2 billion traded in 23,369 deals a day earlier, showing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 80.97 per cent, 22.92 per cent, and 14.20 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was Zenith Bank with 59.5 million units worth N3.6 billion, Access Holdings traded 46.1 million units valued at N973.0 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 29.4 million units for N560.4 million, FCMB transacted 27.9 million units worth N293.9 million, and Tantalizers sold 13.0 million units valued at N29.8 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Energy stocks influenced the 4.76 per cent loss recorded by the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Friday, December 5.
The culprits were the duo of 11 Plc and Nipco Plc,with the former shedding N32.17 to end at N291.83 per share compared with the previous day’s N324.00 per share, and the latter down by N21.00 to sell at N195.00 per unit versus the previous session’s N216.00 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) slumped by 170.16 points to 3,401.37 points from 3,571.53 points and the market capitalisation lost N101.81 billion to close at N2.035 billion from the N2.136 trillion quoted in the preceding session.
The OTC securities exchange suffered the decline yesterday despite the share prices of three companies closing green.
Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc was up by N1.80 to close at N39.80 per share compared with Thursday’s price of N38.00 per share, Air Liquide Plc appreciated by N1.09 to N11.99 per unit from N10.90 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc grew by 78 Kobo to N56.57 per share from N55.79 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions rose by 6,885.3 per cent to 18.2 million units from 4.3 million units, the value of transactions ballooned by 10,301.7 per cent to N389.7 million from N347.2 million, but the number of deals declined by 29.7 per cent to 26 deals from 37 deals.
Infrastructure Credit Guarantee Company (InfraCredit) Plc ended the day as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units worth N16.4 billion, followed by Okitipupa Plc with 170.4 million units valued at N8.0 billion, and Air Liquide Plc with 507.5 million units worth N4.2 billion.
InfraCredit Plc also finished the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 5.8 billion units transacted for N16.4 billion, followed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 1.2 billion units sold for N420.2 million, and Impresit Bakolori Plc with 536.9 million units worth N524.9 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira depreciated further against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) on Friday, December 5, as FX demand pressure mounts.
The Nigerian currency lost N2.60 or 0.18 per cent against the greenback to close at N1,450.43/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,447.83/$1.
Equally, the domestic currency declined against the Pound Sterling in the official forex market during the session by N4.48 to trade at N1,935.45/£1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,930.97/£1 and shrank against the Euro by 43 Kobo to end at N1,689.17/€1 versus the preceding session’s rate of N1,688.74/€1.
Similarly, the local currency performed badly against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX counter by N2 to close at N1,455/$1 versus Thursday’s N1,453/$1 but traded flat at the parallel market at N14.65/$1.
As the country gets into the festive period, pressure mounted on the local currency reflecting higher foreign payments and lower FX inflows.
However, there are expectations that the Nigerian currency will be stable, supported by interventions by to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the face of steady dollar Demand and inflows from Detty December festivities that will give the Naira a boost after it depreciated mildly last month.
Traders cited by Reuters expect that the Naira will trade within a band of N1,443-N1,450/$1 next week, buoyed by improved FX interventions by the apex bank.
As for the crypto market, it was down yesterday due to profit-taking associated with year-end trading. However, the December 1-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation by the University of Michigan fell to 4.1 per cent from 4.5 per cent previously and 4.5 per cent expected. The 5-Year Consumer Inflation Expectation fell to 3.2 per cent from 3.4 per cent previously and 3.4 per cent expected.
With the dearth of official economic data of late, these private surveys have taken on a new level of significance and the market banks of them to make decisions.
Cardano (ADA) depreciated by 5.7 per cent to $0.4142, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 5.1 per cent to $0.1394, Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3.9 per cent to $3,039.75, Solana (SOL) declined by 3.8 per cent to $133.24, and Litecoin (LTC) fell by 3.7 per cent to $80.59.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) went down by 2.6 per cent to sell at $89,683.72, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 2.2 per cent to $883.59, and Ripple (XRP) shrank by 2.1 per cent to $2.04, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
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