By Oyibo Salihu
Lokoja
Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria(ISSSAN) in conjunction with Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN) has called on proponent and drivers of the transformation Agenda of president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to accord Iron and Steel Development its rightful place in the transformation Agenda of the president.
The unions said Nigerians should disregard the statement credited to one Kola Belgore that the federal government was wasting N3.4 billion monthly to offset the salaries of workers who are doing nothing at Ajaokuta Steel Complex in Kogi state.
In a press conference organised by the two unions yesterday at the steel complex in Ajaokuta, the National President of ISSSAN, Comrade Malik Saliu Otori, said it was sad that whenever the federal government was making efforts at revitalising Ajaokuta Steel Complex, the role some highly placed Nigerians played was better described as “sabotage.”
He said the screaming headlines in some national dailies recently that Ajaokuta Steel Company staffers were taking home salaries to the tune of N3.4 billion monthly with a staff strength of 6, 000 for doing nothing was outright ignorance of the agents of an imperialist wanting to take Ajaokuta as scrap “so that he can buy it”
He added that the truth and facts about the iron steel was that “as at today the monthly wage bill stands at about N288 million for a staff strength of about 2,900, and the 2014 budget is there for verification.”
Otori pointed out that Ajaokuta Steel Company might not be fully operational , but all the infrastructure were being maintained on a daily basis to provide full running for the completion unit, saying that Belgore should be educated on Ajaokuta workers.
He lamented that while the workers always ensure that vandalism did not take place, underground water did not submerge the plant facilities, Belgore who was supposed to use his contacts to support the steel plant to grow, rather chose to destroy it against the interest of well-meaning Nigerians.
He said: “It was from this dogged background that the Technical Audits of the steel Plant were done in 2010 which gave the Steel Complex a clean bill of health
“By engineering concept of preservation of equipment and facilities and the clean bill of health given to the Steel Plant by the Technical Audit reports, you will praise the staff for their patriotism and commitment to the nation.”
He stressed that the workers who have at one point stayed without salaries for over 13 months, but still bent on defending the plant against all difficulties now be regarded as idle worker, describing it as “uncharitable and most unfortunate.”
