Ex-Textile Workers Appeal To Tinubu, Govs Over Unpaid Gratuities

About nine thousand former textile workers in Kaduna State have appealed to President Bola Tinubu, governors and other well-meaning Nigerians to intervene in the payment of N35 billion unpaid gratuities and compensation owed to workers of four collapsed textile companies.

The former workers, operating under the Coalition of Closed Unpaid Textiles Workers of Nigeria, Kaduna State chapter, said they had endured decades of hardship since the closure of Kaduna Textiles Limited, Arewa Textiles Plc, Nortex and Fine Tex Limited.

In a statement jointly signed by the coalition’s president/chairman, Comrade Jeibe Wordam and Samuel Ibrahim, the workers said the companies shut down between 2002 and 2004 without paying the affected workers their terminal benefits.

They said the closure of the companies rendered more than 9,000 workers jobless, while over 2,800 workers and family members had reportedly died during the prolonged struggle for the payment of their entitlements.

According to the coalition, Kaduna Textiles Limited closed in 2002, Arewa Textiles Plc shut down in December 2004, while Nortex and Fine Tex ceased operations in 2003.

The workers lamented that despite years of appeals and engagements, the managements of the affected companies had yet to demonstrate any concrete commitment toward settling the outstanding gratuities and compensation.

They also said many former workers had become impoverished and hopeless, with widows and children of deceased workers facing severe hardship, including inability to afford healthcare and education.

The coalition further decried the rising cost of living in the country, noting that many of the affected workers, now above 60 years of age, could no longer secure employment opportunities or establish businesses due to lack of capital.

The former workers recalled that they had earlier petitioned the House of Representatives during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari and were invited to Abuja for a hearing before the tenure of the 9th National Assembly ended without resolving the matter.

They appealed to Tinubu, the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, the Nigeria Governors Forum, Northern Governors Forum, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and international sympathisers to assist in facilitating the payment of the N35 billion they claimed was owed to them.