TheCable

Hakeem Balogun, acting Nigerian ambassador in the US, has denied reports that the Nigerian embassy in Washington was shut down after workers protested their unpaid salaries.

Balogun told NAN that the embassy is “open and fully operational”.

He acknowledged that there was an agitation by the workers over unpaid months salary arrears.

“The embassy works as normal; as we are talking now, I’m still at the office working. So it is not correct for anybody to say that the embassy is shut down; there was nothing like that,” he said.

“But there was a sit-in by some local staff who said they would not work over some arrears but it wasn’t as if the embassy was shut down. Even some of those who were supposed to embark on sit-in were still working and did not join their colleagues.

“They have been paid up till March 2017 but there were some arrears of October to December 2016 that were yet to be paid.

“It was just an agitation to draw attention to the three months arrears owed them but not only them, some ministry staff were also affected. But what they have done was to cry out about the arrears for everybody to hear and everybody has now heard.”

The envoy said the federal government was aware of the issue and other challenges facing the embassy and is gradually addressing them.

“The ministry of foreign affairs is making every effort to ensure the arrears are paid and you will recall that the virement was sent to the national assembly for approval by President Muhammadu Buhari,” he added.

“Now the virement has been approved. As soon as the money is released, all arrears will be paid.”