Members of staff of Daily Newswatch newspaper, Newswatch magazine and National Mirror newspaper, the media arm of the Global Energy group, owned by billionaire businessman, Jimoh Ibrahim, may be heading for a showdown with the abrasive publisher over months of unpaid salaries.
Inside sources told New Mail Nigeria correspondent that while the staff of the Newswatch titles are being owed five months salaries, those of National Mirror are in arrears of three months salaries.
As a starting point, some of the aggrieved staff of Daily Newswatch have vowed to stop the production of the newspaper with immediate effect and as one of the aggrieved staff said, if all goes according to plan, the newspaper will not be on the newsstand beginning from Tuesday (today).
Things are said to have gone so bad that the payment of allowances have also stopped, yet, the publications are on the newsstand as regularly as they should be.
Newswatch magazine, all-coloured is printed from London despite failure to pay salaries and allowances but sources said that the Daily Newswatch situation could not have been more pathetic.
The Sales Manager of Daily Newswatch was said to have died on July 21, 2014 as he could not seek medical help when he took ill as a result of the accumulated unpaid salaries.
Since the newspaper commenced publication over a year ago, Ibrahim has reneged on his promise to release the official cars to the Managing Directors of Newswatch Daily and Magazine, Moses Jolayemi and Dr. Bolu John-Afolayan, who incidentally is Ibrahim’s childhood friend.
However, the Managing Director of National Mirror who was recruited few months ago, long after after Jolayemi and Afolayan was given her official car less than two weeks after assuming office. incidentally, all title editors under Jolayemi and Afolayan have since been given their official Toyota Corolla cars.
Inside sources within the Energy Group said that very little seems to be working as staff have become aggrieved over both unpaid salaries and other issues that have made morale low.
Part of the low point for most staff in the Ibrahim’s Energy Group, is the incarceration of his Personal Assistant Pastor Williams, Ibrahim’s childhood friend his senior in secondary school.
the 59-year-old Williams was held alongside the GMD’s driver over allegations of the disappearance of a bus from the garage of the acclaimed multi-billionaire businessman and lawyer.
However, those who says they are close to the billionaire politician, said to be preparing to contest the 2016 governorship election in Ondo, says the current travails has to do with the dwindling fortune of the self-acclaimed Corporate surgeon and turnaround expert.
the filling stations in the Energy Group, Global Fleet have since been leased out while customers are said to have started staying away from the hotels run by Ibrahim following complaints of neglect.
The NICON Hotels in Abuja and Port Harcourt, Rivers State are said to be shadows of their old selves and the situation became compounded when Ibrahim’s face-off with the government reached the peak and federal agencies withdrew their patronage.
Owing to what a source described as Ibrahim’s crumbling empire, he has had to relocate his private jet, a Challenger 605, to Sao Tome, due to his inability to meet up with the payment for parking in Nigeria.
Yet, the troubles brought about by the collapse of Air Nigeria has not ceased as Ibrahim is said to still has a subsisting $10 million judgment against him in the United States of America for reneging on part of the agreements with the lessors of the aircraft that was used by Air Nigeria.
Our correspondent gathered that the head of the legal unit of Air Nigeria, Akeem Babatunde, has gone to court over unpaid salaries as the expectation of the staff of the defunct airline was that with the payment of about N3 billion to him by the Assets Management Company of Nigeria and the United Bank for Africa following the sale of the assets of Air Nigeria, he was going to offset the salaries owed the staff.
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