Published 4th Jun, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

Oladimeji Amos, a health writer, has accused Franklin Oloniju, founder of Life and Peace Development Organisation (LAPDO), a non-governmental organisation, of refusing to pay him the salaries he owed while he worked for him.

Amos told FIJ that Oloniju agreed to pay him N125,000 as monthly salary when he first employed him in January 2021. He added that he only received a N45,000 payment twice before he was dismissed in April 2021.

He said that while he worked in Oloniju’s organisation, he also managed its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and management and evaluation units.

The writer also added that he would sometimes use his personal resources to carry out some duties for the organisation because the company had yet to receive grants it was expecting from international bodies back then.

“We once got a notification from USAID. They asked us to send a proposal, which we did. When the first tranche of money came in, he paid me only N45,000,” Amos told FIJ.

“As soon as the money came in, Oloniju started cutting corners. Staff members continued to spend their personal monies on work-related errands and services when it was obvious that funds were now available. When his employees confronted him and told him what he did was unfair, he got angry.”

Amos also alleged that Oloniju tried pitching his project manager against other staff members but the latter refused to play along with his divisive plot.

“Oloniju eventually fired me when I told him to pay staff members the salaries they were being owed,” Amos said.

“I told him it was injustice because he refused to pay his staff members, but he fired me. He said he would pay my salary for April, but he never did. He only paid me for February and March 2021. If you ask him why the previous staff left, he would say they ran mad.”

When FIJ called Franklin Oloniju, he stated that he had paid Amos ‘the amount he was capable of paying him’.

“We paid him what he was entitled to and based on the availability of funds when he worked with us. It was a proposed salary, not a definite one,” he said.

When FIJ further asked him what the exact amount he promised to pay Amos, he requested that “an enquiry via mail be sent to him”.

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