COMPLAIN AGAINST PUBLIC COMPLAINS COMMISSION
Sir, Permit me to start this letter with a quotation from Etcetera’s article on the topic, “Why Buhari’s administration can’t succeed with Nigerian Judges”.
“One would be a fool to believe that there is in Nigeria a final authority to turn to in case one is seriously wronged…”
I was an employee of Allestree Ventures Nigeria Limited Kaduna. The Company refused to remit my Pension Contributions for twelve (12) years and also withheld my outstanding salaries and Allowances amounting to Eighteen Million Naira only (N18,000,000.00).
At the beginning of 2006, the turnover of the Company Plummeted to Zero. Other Staff Left. I was retained, the MD met me at my house and pleaded with me to stay and re-build the Company with flattering promises of the goodies that will come, if we succeed. I accepted and we succeeded, we were able to create some streams of incomes between 2008 and 2015. With renewable contracts from:-
– NAPIMS – A subsidiary of NNPC.
– Court of Appeal
– Rima Basin Development Authority, Sokoto
– MDG
– CBN
– National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA)-A department of Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.
– Enterprise Bank
– Nigerian Air Force Sokoto
– FCT-School Management Board
– Capital Science Academy Abuja
– Fidelity Bank, etc
The moment he saw that the Company’s activities were running at full gear, he became wild and provocative. He started using any opportunity to find fault so that he can renege on his promises.
Its Subsidiary; Obeid Cesena Limited where I was seconded to serve the Company also owe me outstanding Allowances of up to Ten Million Naira (N10,000,000.00). We supply grains to Silos Spread all over the country, on behalf of National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA).
We supplied such grains to places such as Jos, Makurdi, Ogoja, Arua, Akure, Ibadan and Maiduguri, etc. Of all the years of operations, the 2009 season needs a special mention, because not only did he fail to honour the allowances that he promised to pay, but that was the year he promised me a Hajj Seat, in presence of his Cousin Dauda Ibrahim who was so excited that he gave me N16,000.00 as his contribution for the re-newal of my International Passport. This promise also like those before it, was never fulfilled. Six months before the expiration of the passport, he came to the office and requested for my passport and CV and I gave him all that he requested. A month later, they were brought back stamped, but with a short note that they couldn’t secured a VISA. That was the time, I made up my mind to leave the organization, and I asked him to calculate all my dues and pay me.
The Managing Director and the Auditor (An ICAN MEMBER), connived to produce fictitious payment schedule that was said to have been made to me as salaries. I challenged them for proof they refused to give. I engaged the services of a Lawyer, who is currently preparing to file a civil action against the Company.
I took the matter to ICPC on 24th November, 2015. By 18th December, 2015, they replied and told me that the case is outside their mandate and referred me to Public Complains Commission.
I wrote a letter of complain to Public Complains Commission on 27th January, 2016. The Commission wrote my former Company on 11th April, 2016 and gave them 30 days period to reply, and promised to be updating me on the new development, but since then, I have not heard from them.
I went there several times, because I felt that unnecessary time is being wasted without any visible result, I appealed to the Public Complains Commission Head Office Abuja for intervention, but to my disappointment, since my letter was acknowledged on 5th August, 2016, I have not heard from them again. I personally feel that the Commission’s Service delivery and feedback system to their clients is poor. How can you keep a fellow citizen with family responsibility for nine (9) months under uncertainty and suspension? There is no greater punishment than this.
On 9th September, 2016, I was watching NTA 7.00am news, when the Lunching of “Change begins with me,” was being aired. The first thing that runs through my mind was that, how can a society that tolerates blatant disobedient of a constituted authority established by an Act of Parliament like Public Complains Commission really witness a Progressive Change.
We hope to see the Change in our life time and Etcetera’s quotation above can be remembered as the history of Nigeria’s past.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Ibrahim Umar Mairiga
Tel: 07064322680
E-mail: iumairiga@yahoo.com
iumairiga@gmail.com
