Over 700 employees of the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies have lamented the non-payment of their 17-month salary arrears owed them by the board.
They also claimed that they had fulfilled all conditions to be captured on the integrated personnel payroll information system for the payment of salary as requested but had yet to receive their salary.
The affected workers, in a statement titled, ‘Complaint Against Non-payment of Salary,’ and jointly signed by the Chairman, Muhammad Suleiman, Secretary, Benjamin Ishiaka, and Public Relations Officer, Andulsalam Ibrahim, on Saturday, alleged that some workers were selected and paid their salary, leaving out others.
The statement partly read, “We were employed since January 2021 by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies and we were adequately captured into the IPPIS in December 2021. It is very unfortunate that to this day, only a few people who constitute about 30 per cent of workers received their salary, while the remaining 70 per cent were left with their fate hanging in the air and a backlog of 17 months of outstanding salaries
“This has brought untold hardships and great damage to us and our families. We lost the job we were managing to sustain ourselves, thinking a better opportunity had come when we took an appointment with NBAIS.
“It is on this note that we are appealing to the press to kindly investigate the matter to save our souls and to have our salary together with arrears. We fail to see the reason why some (the elite) were selected and paid, but we strongly believe that this is the government of renewed hope that an ordinary man in the street shall see better days.”
However, when contacted, the Information Officer of NBAIS, Muhammad Sambo, confirmed the issue, saying, “the board had no reason to withhold any staff salary if the government releases it.”
