By Damina Yusuf, The Bureau News – Bauchi | Nigeria News Today
More than 536 suspended staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have cried out over what they describe as 18 years of injustice and neglect, following the stoppage of their salaries and allowances since 2007.
The aggrieved workers, speaking to journalists in Bauchi, Northeast Nigeria, appealed to President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene and order a thorough investigation into their plight.
According to them, they were neither retrenched, dismissed, nor indicted for wrongdoing, yet their entitlements were abruptly suspended, plunging their families into untold hardship.
“We have been suffering for over 18 years without pay. Many of us have died, and those alive continue to face unbearable hardship. We are only asking for justice,” one of the affected workers said.
Court Judgment Ignored Since 2013
The workers recalled that a Federal High Court judgment in Ikoyi, Lagos, delivered in 2013 by Justice E.O. Abang, ruled in their favour. However, the NPA management allegedly failed to comply with the judgment.
They added that despite interventions by former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the House of Representatives, and the Ministry of Transport in 2016, the NPA has continued to ignore directives to resolve the matter.
Deaths and Untold Hardship
The group lamented that many of their colleagues have died from the hardship, while survivors struggle to feed, pay school fees, and access healthcare. They stressed that they remain law-abiding citizens only seeking fairness from the government.
The suspended NPA staff are now appealing directly to President Tinubu to enforce the court judgment and restore their salaries, warning that continued neglect will deepen their suffering.