Cleaners and Security personnel of Yarima Bakura Specialists Hospital, Gusau, Zamfara State capital have blocked the entrance of the hospital protesting over eleven months unpaid allowances.
The protesting staff who worked under a company named Taula Security Guards Services, said for over eleven months their meager twelve thousand naira allowances have not been paid, hence their decision to embark on the peaceful protest to take home their demands.
The staff mostly aged men and divorced women who work as cleaners and auxiliary security complained that they have channelled all their grievances to authorities concerned but to no avail, saying that the inability to pay them their allowance have compounded their present hardship.
According to them every month those saddled with the responsibility of paying them their entitlements keep on giving them silly excuses despite receiving the allocations from the government.
One the protesting staff, who pleaded anonymity said it they owed over eleven months salaries, noting that most of them have died while others in critical condition due depression over unpaid salaries, pleading with authorities concerned to look in to their condition and ensure prompt payments of their outstanding entitlements.
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“It has been over eleven months that we didn’t receive any salary. Many of us have died while others in hospital beds due to depression over unpaid salaries. We were just paid four hundred naira per day that is twelve thousand naira per month.
I work as a cleaner in the AID. I used to trek from par away place to here just to have a means of livelihood but ended up receiving nothing. You will come sometime with empty stomach and will arrive home late in the night, even your children didn’t have your time”, complained the staff.
He noted that they have for long being complaining but to no avail, saying” we are also patients now because for over eleven months we didn’t take anything home to our families. Our families are Hunger-trapped. We are doing this for the world to know of our plight, we want everyone that has a stake in this to know what’s happening. We have been complaining but at the end of every month we will be told to exercise patience and when the months reaches ten days we will be told to wait till the end of the month. This has been happening up to now”.
He said considering the present economic hardship, there is the need for those concerned to find ways of bringing succor to them, emphasizing that their families need urgent care from them especially now that the month of Ramadan is past approaching.
For his part one of the auxiliary security personnel in the hospital said like their cleaners counterparts, they have not been paid for ten months and that all their attempt to see that the management listened to them were not fruitful.
” We have followed all the legitimate means but nothing was done. Our leaders are aware of our situation but up to now nothing tangible has been done”, he said angrily as he moved on to block the hospital entrance.
WikkiTimes understand that the protesting staff who takes care of vehicular movements and general cleaning of the hospital blocked access road into the facility thus forcing staff and patients relatives to be stranded for over three hours.
Malam Ibrahim Bala, a patient relative said he spent three hours waiting for the protesting staff to give him access in to the facility to attend to his relative who was placed under NG2 but all his attempts prove abortive and therefore appealed to relevant authorities to ensure that the entitlements of the staff have been paid for them.
” As you can see am holding a container filled with pap. I have a patient who was placed under NG2, meaning he can’t be able to eat food. I have to give him pap(Koko) but see I can’t go inside. He is supposed to be given this by 6:00am but here am I now that it is 9:00am. So this protest has affected us. Over 85% staff of the hospital have been stranded outside, they can’t get access in and even those that are on night shift were not allowed to go out. We are appealing to the government to look in to their plight” said Bala.
Ibrahim Dan Alhaji, the officer in charge of the company saddled with the responsibility of paying cleaners did not respond to WikkiTimes’ inquiry as of press time
