The staff of the multimedia organisation, Gotel Communications, owned by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, are currently in distress over owed severance benefits and delays in payment of salaries.

The Yola, Adamawa State based media organisation, which has a television channel and two radio stations, has also scaled down its operational hours due to challenges associated with finances and management.

Uncertainty is brewing among staff who the company owes over N97 million in unpaid entitlements, due to disengagement of their previous appointments.

Insiders blamed the situation on what they called a “sit-tight and overbearing committee” which Mr Abubakar set up to reposition the company three years ago, and the former vice president’s carefree attitude to the business.

The indebtedness started in 2016 after the committee appointed to re-organise the station sacked all staffers and re-engaged some of them in fresh appointments.

Those who were asked to go were reportedly paid promptly while those re-absolved in the organisation are yet to get their pay despite issuance of disengagement letters bearing what every staff was due to receive.

Staff retrenchment
Insiders at the station told PREMIUM TIMES the business became distressed with the economic recession of 2015, leading to a series of reorganisation measures.

To coordinate the reorganisation, Mr Abubakar, who on Sunday emerged the presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 elections. appointed a seven-member committee named Gotel Communications Restructuring Committee (GCRC).

The committee is headed by Adamu Modibbo, a retired banker and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Adamawa State.

Others in the committee are Babakura Jatau; a son of Mr Abubakar, Abba Abubakar; Timaus Mathias; Abdullahi Nyako; and Abdullahi Babalele. The organisation’s acting managing director, Mohammed El-Yakub is the secretary of the committee.




In October 2016, the committee took the decision to cut down staff strength of the station.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the workforce was scaled down in the wake of the reforms, which brought down staff number from 306 to 125.

The disengagement and re-absorption were initially carried out verbally before local unions pushed for formal communication.

It took almost a year before the management issued letters dated August 2017, backdating the actions to October 2016.

One staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said the reduction in staff strength was so sharp that current staff are being overworked.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that apart from those retrenched, some staff also resigned their posts due to the situation at the stations.

One staff alleged that a few staffers later hired by the controversial committee were not as competent as those sacked, and therefore unable to cope.

“For example, I work for almost seven days a week running from one task to another, something that ought to be done by nothing less than three staff. I hardly get a day off, throughout the week,” he said.

There has also not been a new condition of service and salary scale in place, despite the spirited effort of the local chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the National Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU).

A November resolution of the combined sittings of the two unions seen by our reporter catalogued the issues and appealed to the reorganisation committee for redress.




The company’s managing director, Mohammed El-Yakub, said his management team is pushing for the settlement of the owed benefits through the restructuring committee.

But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, chairperson of the Gotel Chapel of the NUJ, Muhammad Mustapha, said almost a year since the November 2017 submission to the management, the issues are yet to be addressed.

Rather than attending to contending issues, in line with the purported reforms sought to be implemented, the committee is overseeing what one staff called “strangulation” of the radio and television channels.

“As I speak to you, we don’t have internet connection. We use modem, and even the modems are inadequate that some of us have to provide for ourselves,” one source, a presenter at one of the radio stations said.

The radio station on AM frequency, which used to operate for 24 hours has scaled down hours of operations, and insiders said even in those active hours, the stations often go off air due to short supply of fuel.

“Sometimes, if there is no electricity, we have to be off air as diesel is not always available to power the stations. Finances are now controlled by the committee and the managing director is just there, helpless,” on operation staff said.

Committee reacts
When contacted, chairman of the restructuring committee, Adamu Modibbo, denied charges of mismanaging the stations.

He admitted that staff were being owed benefits from the retrenchment but, contrary to the promises his committee made to the staff about payment, Mr Modibbo told PREMIUM TIMES they are not paying anytime soon.

Mr Modibbo, who initially said the new system has written off the old condition of service which “was not contributory pension system” however, said under the new contributory pension arrangement, the company cannot pay those benefits until those staff are unemployed.

Reminded that the old system was different, by his own admission, and that beneficiaries were already issued with letters of engagement bearing the amount they are each entitled to, Mr Modibbo maintained his grounds.

“Those that are not paid are those that were asked to continue to work. We reabsorbed them,” he said.

“In other words, the reason why we said they were disengaged and reabsorbed is that is the nature of the new condition of service because it is the contributory pension scheme.




“We disengaged them under the former system but reabsorbed them under the new condition of service which is contributory pension scheme. How do you expect us to pay them entitlement when they are still working? Can you pay someone pension when he is still getting salary?”


Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/289103-staff-of-atikus-media-outfit-cry-over-unpaid-entitlements.html

APC don pay people.

I'm sure he will pay them now.
His vision is clearer.

nelronaldo:
APC don pay people.

Same premium times that have bin helping u with Adeosun and Shittu's NYSC certificate o..

Like it or not, politics is bad. The rate at which everything about you is dug up eh. Even the devil dey wonder

Ok

Is Atiku the manager of the outlet

There s just everything bad about Atiku

I call this one bad belle politics.. Mcheeew.. Throw into trash.. At least Atiku have a means through which he employ the masses unlike d oza guy..

Zombies will want to do everything to bring ATIKU down.
Wailers keep wailing.
One thing I know ATIKU is Nigeria president come 2019

Oblang:


Same premium times that have bin helping u with Adeosun and Shittu's NYSC certificate o..

They helped you. What's my business with Adeosun or Shittu's certificate scandal? Was i the one that helped Adeosun forge her certificate?

I only made that comment because this is coming days after he won the Presidential primaries. Why didn't this come up since?

Whether it is true or not that he hasn't paid, it won't stop those that want to vote Atiku from voting him.

Clickairtravels:
I call this one bad belle politics.. Mcheeew.. Throw into trash.. At least Atiku have a means through which he employ the masses unlike d oza guy..

Yes.

Steal government funds, open mushroom businesses with them , deny the people of their wages and wait for online urchins to defend your action.

transe:
The staff of the multimedia organisation, Gotel Communications, owned by former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, are currently in distress over owed severance benefits and delays in payment of salaries.

The Yola, Adamawa State based media organisation, which has a television channel and two radio stations, has also scaled down its operational hours due to challenges associated with finances and management.

Uncertainty is brewing among staff who the company owes over N97 million in unpaid entitlements, due to disengagement of their previous appointments.

Insiders blamed the situation on what they called a “sit-tight and overbearing committee” which Mr Abubakar set up to reposition the company three years ago, and the former vice president’s carefree attitude to the business.

The indebtedness started in 2016 after the committee appointed to re-organise the station sacked all staffers and re-engaged some of them in fresh appointments.

Those who were asked to go were reportedly paid promptly while those re-absolved in the organisation are yet to get their pay despite issuance of disengagement letters bearing what every staff was due to receive.

Staff retrenchment
Insiders at the station told PREMIUM TIMES the business became distressed with the economic recession of 2015, leading to a series of reorganisation measures.

To coordinate the reorganisation, Mr Abubakar, who on Sunday emerged the presidential candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 elections. appointed a seven-member committee named Gotel Communications Restructuring Committee (GCRC).

The committee is headed by Adamu Modibbo, a retired banker and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Adamawa State.

Others in the committee are Babakura Jatau; a son of Mr Abubakar, Abba Abubakar; Timaus Mathias; Abdullahi Nyako; and Abdullahi Babalele. The organisation’s acting managing director, Mohammed El-Yakub is the secretary of the committee.




In October 2016, the committee took the decision to cut down staff strength of the station.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how the workforce was scaled down in the wake of the reforms, which brought down staff number from 306 to 125.

The disengagement and re-absorption were initially carried out verbally before local unions pushed for formal communication.

It took almost a year before the management issued letters dated August 2017, backdating the actions to October 2016.

One staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said the reduction in staff strength was so sharp that current staff are being overworked.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that apart from those retrenched, some staff also resigned their posts due to the situation at the stations.

One staff alleged that a few staffers later hired by the controversial committee were not as competent as those sacked, and therefore unable to cope.

“For example, I work for almost seven days a week running from one task to another, something that ought to be done by nothing less than three staff. I hardly get a day off, throughout the week,” he said.

There has also not been a new condition of service and salary scale in place, despite the spirited effort of the local chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the National Radio, Television and Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU).

A November resolution of the combined sittings of the two unions seen by our reporter catalogued the issues and appealed to the reorganisation committee for redress.




The company’s managing director, Mohammed El-Yakub, said his management team is pushing for the settlement of the owed benefits through the restructuring committee.

But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, chairperson of the Gotel Chapel of the NUJ, Muhammad Mustapha, said almost a year since the November 2017 submission to the management, the issues are yet to be addressed.

Rather than attending to contending issues, in line with the purported reforms sought to be implemented, the committee is overseeing what one staff called “strangulation” of the radio and television channels.

“As I speak to you, we don’t have internet connection. We use modem, and even the modems are inadequate that some of us have to provide for ourselves,” one source, a presenter at one of the radio stations said.

The radio station on AM frequency, which used to operate for 24 hours has scaled down hours of operations, and insiders said even in those active hours, the stations often go off air due to short supply of fuel.

“Sometimes, if there is no electricity, we have to be off air as diesel is not always available to power the stations. Finances are now controlled by the committee and the managing director is just there, helpless,” on operation staff said.

Committee reacts
When contacted, chairman of the restructuring committee, Adamu Modibbo, denied charges of mismanaging the stations.

He admitted that staff were being owed benefits from the retrenchment but, contrary to the promises his committee made to the staff about payment, Mr Modibbo told PREMIUM TIMES they are not paying anytime soon.

Mr Modibbo, who initially said the new system has written off the old condition of service which “was not contributory pension system” however, said under the new contributory pension arrangement, the company cannot pay those benefits until those staff are unemployed.

Reminded that the old system was different, by his own admission, and that beneficiaries were already issued with letters of engagement bearing the amount they are each entitled to, Mr Modibbo maintained his grounds.

“Those that are not paid are those that were asked to continue to work. We reabsorbed them,” he said.

“In other words, the reason why we said they were disengaged and reabsorbed is that is the nature of the new condition of service because it is the contributory pension scheme.




“We disengaged them under the former system but reabsorbed them under the new condition of service which is contributory pension scheme. How do you expect us to pay them entitlement when they are still working? Can you pay someone pension when he is still getting salary?”


Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/289103-staff-of-atikus-media-outfit-cry-over-unpaid-entitlements.html

Try and read down the line, and that is what we call justice.
Atiku is the best my people

Good for them

Wen we call these ppl ZonBs now dey'll start crying... One mumu up there who didn't even read d report is already blaming Atiku.. Even d person who quickly put up d story had no idea why it mean lol

Would this have been news if Atiku lost the primaries?
Bad belle dem....

#MyOpinion

Zombies will never give you reasons why you should vote buhari again but they keep on spewing lies and baseless propagandas on atiku.


If buhari was performing well, then why are zombies worried over atiku.

Atiku dey give them pains already.


Show me a video of atiku stealing money from CBN, I will still vote atiku.

#Iamatikulated!!!

[s]

NwaAmaikpe:




I'm sure he will pay them now.
His vision is clearer.

[/s].

YES! We have ATHIEFKULATED!

rusher14:


Yes.

Steal government funds, open mushroom businesses with them , deny the people of their wages and wait for online urchins to defend your action.

I will still vote Atiku. Sorry is your name.

firo08:
Zombies will want to do everything to bring ATIKU down.
Wailers keep wailing.
One thing I know ATIKU is Nigeria president come 2019

Zombies will wail forever. Atiku is giving them much pains already.

God bless Atiku, the next president elect of Nigeria.

Deltayankeeboi:
Zombies will wail forever. Atiku is giving them much pains already.

God bless Atiku, the next president elect of Nigeria.

The attached is from your signature

Who is the slave and zombie now?

Karma is wicked

It was so because their is no substance at the base of their wealth. His DG newspaper building (Compass) at Isheri is rotting away.

Deltayankeeboi:
I will still vote Atiku. Sorry is your name.

You get pass one vote?

We get Federal might.

If you think a looter would rule this country and we would let him achieve it you must be joking.

Buterflyle0:


The attached is from your signature

Who is the slave and zombie now?

Karma is wicked

Chief propagandist. Blackmailing is your area of specialization.

I know the kind of people I designed my signature for.
Only for APC zombies, as long as you all refuse to be liberated and open your eyes to see how buhari has ruined the country, my signature will affect you.

#SaiAtiku. . . . I am an unrepentant atiku loyalist. I am atikulated.

Deltayankeeboi:


I am a Chief propagandist. Blackmailing is my area of specialization.

I know the kind of people I designed my signature for.
Only for wailing zombies, as long as we all refuse to be liberated and open our eyes to see how Atiku is about to ruin the country, my signature will affect all of us

#SaiAthiefku. . . . I am an unrepentant Atiku loyalist. I am athiefkulated.

Yes you are right!

Every incorporated business is an entity that should run itself and Mischievous BMC need to know when to separate business as an entity and the personality of an investor ...Is Atiku involved in the day to day running of the business? HELL NO

Matters arising

As I speak to you, we don’t have internet connection. We use modem, and even the modems are inadequate that some of us have to provide for ourselves,” one source, a presenter at one of the radio stations said.

The radio station on AM frequency, which used to operate for 24 hours has scaled down hours of operations, and insiders said even in those active hours, the stations often go off air due to short supply of fuel

What do you expect from a guy who sold NITEL!

Atiku AND HIS ATHIEFKULATED SUPPORTERS

rusher14:


You get pass one vote?

We get Federal might.

If you think a looter would rule this country and we would let him achieve it you must be joking.

If you think nigerians are still going to fall for your cheap corruption gimmicks this time around, you must be joking. You better wake up to see reality around you.

@bolded, that is your only hope of survival. Rigging! Just like ekiti and osun.

The whole world will be watching, Let us see how far APC can rig the presidential election.
GEJ had federal might 3years ago, he still lost.

Once nigerians have decided, there is no going back. Buhari has been rejected and that is final! Rigging or no rigging, bubu is going back to daura.

#nigeria is atikulated.

Buterflyle0:
Matters arising



What do you expect from a guy who sold NITEL!

Atiku AND HIS ATHIEFKULATED SUPPORTERS

All this ones won't work o. You are wasting your time.

Don't you understand when somebody tells you, whatever you are saying is falling on deaf ears. This is not 2015, buhari has been tested and he failed woefully.

Instead of all these propaganda on atiku, why not market buhari to his few passive supporters remaining before they completely become atikulated.

Like play like play, 2019 go soon reach. . Reality go dey clear for una eyes small small.

Deltayankeeboi:
If you think nigerians are still going to fall for your cheap corruption gimmicks this time around, you must be joking. You better wake up to see reality around you.

@bolded, that is your only hope of survival. Rigging! Just like ekiti and osun.

The whole world will be watching, Let us see how far APC can rig the presidential election.
GEJ had federal might 3years ago, he still lost.

Once nigerians have decided, there is no going back. Buhari has been rejected and that is final! Rigging or no rigging, bubu is going back to daura.

#nigeria is atikulated.

Let the whole world be watching.

Are they not watching whilst a known thief is contesting?

Deltayankeeboi:


All this ones won't work o. You are wasting your time.

Don't you understand when somebody tells you, whatever you are saying is falling on deaf ears. This is not 2015, buhari has been tested and he failed woefully.

Instead of all these propaganda on atiku, why not market buhari to his few passive supporters remaining before they completely become atikulated.

Like play like play, 2019 go soon reach. . Reality go dey clear for una eyes small small.

This one is pained

He does not even realise that this is fun for me because PMB has won 2019 since 2015. He thinks I am bugging myself over him

Chai wailers sha.