Employees at the Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO) in Oshodi, Lagos State, are expressing dissatisfaction with the prolonged delay in receiving their promotion entitlements, which have been withheld for more than four years.
Those who spoke with newsmen on Monday, choosing anonymity to avoid potential repercussions from their employer, underscored the adverse impact of the situation, highlighting the considerable hardships they face amid the current economic climate.
Africa Today News, New York, reported that employees voiced their dissatisfaction with the actions of the institute’s current governing board, led by Alhaji Gambo Magaji. This board, inaugurated in October 2021, opted to discard the promotion exercise conducted by the former board in July 2021.
Togunde Oyekola, the branch Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Universities Teaching Hospitals Research Institutes and Associated Institutions at the institute, informed the press that employees turned to prayer and fasting sessions in response to the crisis engulfing the promotion exercise.
A staff member, speaking off the record, highlighted that despite the institute’s promotion initiative, individuals promoted have been waiting for their entitlements for over four years.
She said, ‘We have been sitting for promotion exams for the past four years without being paid our promotion arrears. I approached the management and what I was told was that my promotion was last year, why am I complaining? We have staff that were owed arrears from three years ago, yours is recent so be patient, the DG is working on it.’
‘It is unfortunate that despite that our salaries were not increased, the economic reality has made it difficult for me to meet up with responsibility. I am appealing to the management of FIIRO to help us resolve this issue.’
Rolly, a staff member who identified himself, pointed out that, although certain staff members received their promotional entitlements gradually, some are still awaiting their entitlements from the promotional exercise conducted in 2019.
He said, ‘Before the crisis, when you do your promotion in December, the following year by January, you started to get your promotional entitlement but along the line, things changed. Those that did their promotion in 2019, were just paid early this year in bits.’
‘Despite the protest embarked upon by the staff members some time ago, nothing was done to it and this is affecting us. The economy is not favourable at all.’
In response to inquiries, Chris Olumuyiwa, the Public Relations Officer of FIIRO, adviced journalists to visit the FIIRO office for official response.
‘I can’t give you reactions on the phone. You can come to the office if you want my audience, that’s the process,’ he said.