TheCable

The management of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it does not owe staff salaries.

Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer, NUPRC, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

He spoke after the two-day protest by some employees of the commission who were aggrieved with the management over the alleged non-payment of allowances and seven months outstanding salaries.

The employees also alleged poor welfare, non-payment of outsourced personnel and 2023 staff medicals, outstanding upfront allowances, non-remittance of pension deductions from staff salaries, poor working environment, insufficient working tools, among others.

The protesters, made up of the staff of the local branch of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), had on Tuesday and Wednesday barricaded the entrance of the head office of the NUPRC in Abuja.

Komolafe, however, told NAN that all unpaid claims of the protesting staff have been processed.

He said that the outstanding entitlements and all the issues the protesting staff raised and itemised in their letter dated July 31 have been settled because the payments had already been processed.

He said obligations relating to claims made by the union had been fulfilled and efforts were already in place to achieve closure on the pending items.

Komolafe said the management found the protest strange because it had earlier invited the staff to meet with the commissioner to ensure that their demands were met.

“Engagement is ongoing, while the true financial status of the commission has already been made known to the staff by the management,” he said.

Komolafe explained that asides for the claims which were delayed by availability of funds, salary and allowance were paid constantly and before the 30th of every month.

“Obligations are always higher than the resource you get, the money you get is always lower than your needs. When it comes to that you will now be rationing and prioritising,” he said.

“If Microsoft subscription is expiring, would you want to pay claims and leave the subscription that can shut the whole system down?”

He further said that while he was away on an official trip, the commission’s finance executive commissioner informed him of the status of available funds.

According to Komolafe, within 10 minutes that the commissioner informed him, he immediately approved that all the pending claims should be settled.

“That fact is there,” he said.

Komolafe said that on his return, he requested to know whether the claims have been paid.

He said the commissioner told him that the payments were ongoing but the Remita platform which was outside the purview of the commission was having technical issues.

Komolafe said the commissioner later confirmed that all the payments had been processed based on availability of funds.