The beneficiaries of New Nigerian Newspapers under Northern States Governors Forum have lamented non payment of their benefits amounting to N2.1bn.
The former staff said they had lost 106 members while awaiting their entitlements.
A statement signed by Alhaji Sadiq Tela on behalf of Elders Forum and Friday Sule for Joint Union of the New Nigerian Newspapers on Tuesday said, “Following the recent out of Court settlement between Northern Governors Versus Albert Iweka and Co which was adopted on the 27th of November, 2024 by the Federal High Court as facilitated by New Nigerian Beneficiaries, expectations have been high given the extreme poverty orchestrated by this pending benefits”.
He recalled that Barrister Iweka, Idi Sule and former workers of the New Nigerian Newspapers had dragged Northern Governors to Court over payments of check-off dues and later obtained a garnishee order that froze New Capital Properties Limited (NCPL) account where the proceeds of sales of NNN assets was domicile in.
“Following the painstaking efforts by New Nigerian beneficiaries, the matter was squashed and all garnishee orders instituted earlier vacated and all parties settled except New Nigerian beneficiaries”.
According to him, more than 100 days after the vacation of the 10 years court matter, all New Nigerian beneficiaries who served the 19 Northern Governors are still wondering in the wilderness in pains and gnashing of teeth.
He further said that over 800 beneficiaries with almost 10,000 mouths to feed are already in tears.
“The Northern Governors under the leadership of Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State have the deciding powers for the destiny of almost 1000 New Nigerian beneficiaries
“We seized this opportunity to beg our Northern Governors’ Forum to come to our aid as the death toll of NNN beneficiaries awaiting payment has reached 106 as at January 2025.
“In the spirit of Ramadan, we beg our Northern Governors to show mercy on our families as most of us are unable to Breakfast,” he said.
