Date: 2019-03-27

...We have paid over 80% of their benefits - Govt ...It's absolute lie, sacked workers FOLLOWING Vanguard report on the plight of workers that were thrown out of their jobs by the management of Kwara State-owned Kwara Hotel, KH, over 20 months ago without even termination letters, has triggered off another controversy between the aggrieved former workers and the Kwara State Government, owners of KH.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State This time around, the two parties are now trading words over what has been paid and what is left. Recall that 85 workers were identified by the management of the hotel to be leading the agitation for refurbishment and upgrading of the standard of the hotel as well as improvement of the welfare of the staff, and they were crudely turned back at the gate on May 25, 2017 without sack letters .

Not only that, their entitlements were said to have remained unpaid, while they were not allowed to return to work till date. As days went by, 25 of them moved on as they found one thing or the other to keep body and soul together, while 60 others are still roaming the streets, living as destitute 22 months after. During this period, one of the victims, Bamidele Williams, lost his son because there was no money to buy the required drugs to keep him alive.

He received the sad call that his son has passed on while he was at KH premises with others on a peaceful protest against non-payment of their entitlements. Our offence Recall that the chairman of the National Union of Hotel and Personal Services Employees, Kwara Hotel chapter, Mr Mohammed Ochennica had said: "It was in the cause of informing the state government that KH needed renovations because the infrastructure were seriously dilapidating that they planned to sack us.

When I got the hint that they had already compiled list and were about sharing the sack letters, I approached the management to find out the veracity of the report, but they denied it. It was the following day that we met the gate of KH closed against us by a detachment of six vehicles of anti-riot mobile police officer's. They compiled list and only those on the list were allowed inside; 85 of us were not allowed inside and till today, no sack letter has been given to us.

"We stage several peaceful protests, and in the process, one of us received a call that his son has died because he had no money to buy the required drugs so no amount of money the management can pay now can measure up to the evils that had happened to our people because of this development."

Spokesman of Harmony Holdings, Managing Director of Kwara Hotels, Mr Tunde Abodunde, in a statement on payment of entitlements of the sacked staff said: "Contrary to the claims contained in a recent newspaper publication to the effect that some staff of Kwara Hotel were laid off since May, 2017 without benefits or termination letters, Harmony Holdings Ltd has affirmed that more than 80 per cent of the agreed severance benefits of the affected workers has been paid by the Kwara State Government."

The statement also claimed that a joint reconciliation and verification carried out by the Kwara State Government with both the local and national unions of the hotel workers, agreed on final settlement of obligations on claims/benefits due to staff of Kwara Hotel totalingN202, 401, 966.00 million being direct benefits due to them. According to him: "This was backed up by an agreement duly signed by all the parties in June, 2017. Out of this, a sum in excess of N162 million has been paid to the staff.

This amount includes gratuity (N89million), and other direct staff benefits. It will be recalled that the Kwara State Government, had in its magnanimity, committed to pay the outstanding entitlements of the affected staff when it became obvious that the former employer of the affected staff was not forthcoming in meeting its obligations to the disengaged staff. Kwarans can at least see that the present government has demonstrated empathy and humanity as far as the retrenched staff of Kwara Hotel are concerned, and the apparent renovation and upgrade of the hotel recently carried out by Harmony Holdings Ltd, is a true testament that Kwara Hotel is on an upward trajectory for the benefit of all Kwarans and the general public. But reacting, the branch chairman of the National Union of Hotel and Personal Services, Kwara Hotel chapter, Mr Mohammed Ochennica explained that the total amount owed the distressed staff which included pension, employees' contributions deducted but not remitted, unremitted cooperative deductions, National Housing Fund deductions, union service charge among others totalling N301,006,538.1, adding that the state government only paid N89,804,675.97 and N33,327,14.58 at different intervals, so our balance now is N198,002,180.55. This amount is outside of N26 million they demanded from the union which we agreed to because they claimed they needed to pay back the interest on the loan they would obtain to pay us and we agreed and they started the payment.

"We were getting our money through Harmony Holdings. So we agreed with them to share the payment of interest on the loans they took to pay our money because they couldnt additionally incure any debt in the cause of the payment."

Speaking on the state of payment, he stressed: "Not even up to 50 per cent of our entitlements has been paid whereas they are claiming that about 80 per cent has been paid. That is not true. It is a blatant lie."