Published 1st Sep, 2023

By Sodeeq Atanda

After FIJ’s publication, Verity Rock Limited, an engineering and construction company listed as a contractor at the Dangote Refinery in Lagos, has paid the two-month salaries it owed its workers.

The workers got their pay yesterday after the close of business. According to our sources, the company not only paid the technical workers but also clerical staffers.

“I am happy to report to you that the company has paid us. I received my credit alert this evening and some of my colleagues have got theirs too,” said a worker who chose not to be named.

He thanked FIJ for its intervention in the salary delay which had plunged some of the workers into hunger and debt.

Earlier, FIJ had reported how the company failed to pay its workforce July and August salaries even after the date the management promised had elapsed.

The company had earlier promised on August 24, when the skilled labour force staged a protest, that it would pay both August salaries and July arrears on Tuesday but it failed to do so.

The workers resorted to another protest on Wednesday within the Dangote Refinery Complex where they worked different jobs for the expatriate-led construction company.

“I hope they would treat our demand with the required sensitivity this time around,” another worker explained after this reporter told him that V.S. Tomar, the managing director, had promised to pay between Wednesday and Thursday.

“Because that’s how they always promise and yet they will not keep to it.”

In a chat with FIJ on Thursday evening, Tomar told FIJ that the workers had been paid. He further sent snapshots of his private chats with two of his clerical staff members who confirmed the payment.

“Look at the messages sent to me by some workers so you can have faith in us. You can even ask workers to verify my claim,” Tomar, the Indian director, said.

Editor’s Note: Sources were kept anonymous to protect them from undeserved retribution.

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