As NIMC workers expect new salary alert, NIPOST counterparts send SOS to Communication Minister 

Mr. Ayo Olorunfemi is the General Secretary of the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations and Government Owned Companies (SASGOC). He told CHRISTIAN APPOLOS, in this exclusive media chat, that workers in the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) have been placed on a new salary structure, courtesy of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami and that workers in Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) are pleading to the Minister to come to their aid in revitalising NIPOST and in regards to their poor salary structure. Excerpts.

NIMC new salary structure, payment commencement, NIPOST workers demand

The journey to getting the required appropriate salary structure for workers in NIMC started way back in 2012. The efforts to make it a reality, gained more momentum when the Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporation and Government Owned Company (SASGOC) took over as the union in charge of the staff in 2013. The Union did so much in ensuring that they get the required salary that will retain the staff that were leaving the agency due to poor remuneration, but as a result of sabotage here and there, jealousy and power play, it could not come to reality.

But we thank God that the current Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, a young and vibrant person, who is also a professional in the field, deemed it fit to take the bull by the horns and got Mr. President, to approve appropriate conditional salaries with appropriate salary structure for the staff of the Commission.

Before now, a lot of eggheads had left the commission over the years to NCC, some of them got international jobs. Even the few ones that are there were also looking for ways to get out, but with the new salary that is coming this October, I am sure the narratives will change.

So, we are happy that they have made our job simpler, even though right now we have an issue with the management of the Commission.

One may wonder why there is a new salary structure for NIMC staff, the reason is simple. The National Identity Management Commission is a statutory corporation in Nigeria, created in 2007. Its core mandate is to create,  manage, and maintain national database, identity database. And you know, identity database (national database) is one of the key infrastructure that the country requires in order to develop.

That means the integrity of the database must be unquestionable, must be solid. The National Identity Management Commission can be divided into two ends; the front end and the back end. The front end is the one that everybody sees every day, while the back end is where the infrastructure itself is managed.

For the records, the National Identity Management Commission has one of the best identity infrastructure in the world, not just in Africa. I think one of the first best in the world, and that will tell you the category of staff required to maintain this infrastructure. They are scarce skill, they are not people you can get on the street. They spend a lot of money to be trained, and there are a lot of people looking for this class of staff within and outside Nigeria.

Therefore, you need to be able to motivate and retain this class of staff at least with equitable salary, if one really wants a serious business, as far as a national identity is concerned.

NIMC is 100 per cent ICT, so what government did was pull out its workers salary from the regular structure, and  put into CONNIMC salary structure that is peculiar to them, and agree to the type of job they are doing. That is what the Federal Government under this regime has been able to achieve for us and we are happy about it.

So for somebody to say that the President does not know what he’s doing, criticizing the Minister, and trying to discredit him for ensuring that workers are rewarded for the good jobs they are doing, is unacceptable to us.

We are aware that the new salary structure will take effect from September, which is last month. We’re happy to note that efforts are being made to get budget for it. We’re hoping that before the end of this month of October, we’ll begin to see the green light. Importantly, we’re happy that approval has been given, and we are sure that that approval will not be withdrawn no matter what the detractors are saying, the Federal Government will not do that.

We’re also using this opportunity to call on our indefatigable  Minister, yes he has done that of NIMC, and we are expecting him to do something in NIPOST, no matter how little.

NIPOST is another government establishment that needs to concentrate on building a very formidable system, so that it can operate like their counterparts in other parts of the world. Back in the days, in the 70s, when you went to post offices, the post office was a one stop where you could do so many businesses.

NIPOST is coming back to that lost glory, that lost glory is going to be restored. And when we are doing that, we must also make sure that the staff are adequately compensated. So we are requesting that it may not be as much as what has been approved for NIMC, but at least we expect that NIPOST staff should be able to get 100 per cent salary increase so that the staff will be able to do the right job.

We’re already talking about it and the conditional services had been worked on, and we’re expecting that they Honourable Minister will pursue  and take this before the President for approval. And as the union of statutory corporation, we are positioned to assist the government in ensuring that all our statutory corporations are up and running for the overall development of the country.

What Nigeria can achieve through NIMC card

What NIMC does is to manage identity and identity is a number, a security number; and that is what we call national identification number. The national identification number is your identity, peculiar to you, nobody can share it.

The byproduct of your identity is the electronic ID card, e-ID. The e-ID has in it chips that can accommodate so many things, including your travel document, your driver’s licence, your voting document, and other transactional documents. You can actually use your e-ID to save your money and get your money from the bank, through the POS, or through the ATM. You can use it to draw money in Germany, in the United States, anywhere in the world; the e-ID of the National Identity Management Commission is acceptable worldwide for any transaction.

So now when you look at it from that perspective it therefore means that anybody who wants to transact business in Nigeria, whether a Nigerian, a resident, a non resident, must be in the national database.

Some people are complaining that foreigners are being enrolled into the national database. Yes, they should be enrolled into the national database as long as they have one or two things to do in this country, and put them in the national database. When they are in the national database, you know who they are. So when they commit a crime, they can easily be traced.

So, without saying too much. The National Identity Management Commission is a solution to insecurity in Nigeria. Do it, and insecurity will disappear, because there will be no hiding place for criminals.