- * As Adhoc Staff Demands Payment, Alleges Payment Through POS
By David Odama (In Lafia, Nasarawa State)
Adhoc staff of the National Population Commission, (NPC) who underwent the recent population trial census training in Nasarawa state have staged a protest in some designated areas in the state, demanding payment of their allowances in the trial Census carried out about three months ago in the state.
They have also accused the Commission of insensitivity, payment of allowances to some staff through the use of POS, and appealed to the Chairman of the Commission to intervene and ensure immediate payment of their allowances.
It would be recalled that the National Population Commission (NPC) had conducted nationwide training of adhoc staff for trial census between 13th and 30th of July 2022 for over 4000 people.
It would however be recalled also that over three months after the the trial training exercise conducted in Karu Local Government area of the state, some of the adhoc staff who participated in the trial census claimed not to have been paid their allowances.
The NPC adhoc staff who were mostly youths, mobilized themselves at different locations in Keffi, Akwanga and Doma local government areas, carrying placards with inscriptions such as: 'NPC You have Failed Us'.; 'NPC, Please Pay Our Allowances, We Worked for it' ; 'NPC, We Demand For Our Entitlement', amongst others.
Speaking to journalists during the protest in Keffi zone, John Adigidzi, who claimed to have been trained as an enumerator during the trial census, said most of their colleagues were paid immediately after the exercise but wondered why NPC had not paid the rest of them since the trial census was over three months ago.
Another enumerator from Akwanga Local Government area, Miss Fatima Abdullahi, told journalists that considering the sacrifices and hardships they faced throughout the trial census, they expected NPC to be more sensitive to their efforts by paying them their entitlements and not otherwise.
According to her, "I sustained a leg injury during the trial census and I have been in pains since we finished the work. I borrowed money to feed, transport myself throughout the period, but NPC has refused to pay my training and field allowances."
In the same vein, a supervisor during the trial census, Yahaya Ayinaka, said he mobilized his colleagues in Doma local government, and called on the National Population Commission (NPC) to carry out a thorough investigations into all financial transactions during the trial census.
According to Mr Ayinaka, "Some of our colleagues who participated in the trial census were paid through POS and bank transfers through personal account and I wondered the the reasons why some of them were not paid".
While appealing to the NPC to justify the use of the digital service adopted worldwide, Ayinaka questioned why NPC would engaged in the use of private accounts and POS to pay them.
When contacted, the Nasarawa State Director, National Population Commission, Alhaji Umar Tafida, confirmed that over 250 adhoc staff who participated in the trial census had not been paid their allowances.
Tafida however claimed that the non payment of some of the adhoc staff was as a result of duplication of payment for some of the staff and attributed the issue to human error.
He called on the affected adhoc staff to be calm while the commission was taking steps towards addressing the issue. NNL.
