by Christiana Gokyo, Jos

The National Population Commission (NPC) 467 adhoc staff members in Bauchi State have taken to the streets to protest alleged non-payment of their allowances.

The protesters, consisting of trained facilitators and special work force, held a peaceful demonstration to protest non-payment of their training allowances for the forthcoming 2023 national census exercise in Bauchi State.

The Adhoc staffs were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “Trained Facilitators changed with Untrained Personnel!” “Trained Facilitators and Special Work Force Exempted from 2023 Census Exercise,” “Pay Us Immediately to Avoid Further Actions,” and “We Demand our Rights,” among others.

Leader of the protesters, Abbas Adamu, who presented the list of the affected staff and their demands to State Director of NPC, said, “I am leading my colleagues who participated as Special Work Force and Facilitators for the forthcoming 2023 census exercise at the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi Training Centres.

“Incidentally, payment of allowances of the trainees was effected like two months ago; some got their payments, while others did not,” he said. 

According to him, the worrying part of it is that there seems to be no clear-cut explanation as to why there is this delay in the payment of those who have taken part in the exercise; who were trained in Bauchi State under very difficult conditions, because I know people who had to sleep at training centres, in classrooms…didn’t have money to feed and had sold their property, in order to participate in the training.

“One will expect that, instead of allowing rumours to fly around, the commission should come out openly and make a categorical statement about the payment of those who took part in the exercise and have not been paid. We are moving to the next part of the census exercise and payment has not been effected.

“Do they expect those who took part in the training but have not been paid to take part in the other phases of the exercise without the previous payment?” he stressed.

In his own words, the NPC State Director, Hudu Babale Tilde, who received the letter, promised to deliver it to the NPC Federal Commissioner in Bauchi.

“I have listened to all your grievances and complaints and they are all noted. I have gotten the letter which would be forwarded to the Commissioner and the National Headquarters in Abuja,” he said.

“This is not the first time we want to address the issues of payment; I have seen many faces that came to me personally and in groups. I am so surprised that they probably were not satisfied. I will channel their complaints to the appropriate authorities, and be rest assured to be addressed properly.”