Wisdom Okezie, a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, has accused Dupe Akinola, the publisher of community news outlet Alimosho Today, of refusing to pay his allowance and salary after he tendered his resignation letter in May. Akinola told FIJ that it was deliberate.
The former employee of Alimosho Today told FIJ that he had made efforts to get Akinola to pay his entitlements but, whenever he reached out to him, he would promise to pay only to leave him in limbo.
Okezie, who worked with the outlet for 10 months, said that his issue with Akinola began after he made it clear he was going to leave the organisation.
According to Okezie, his salary was N45,000 until April, when he hinted that he would change his nature of contract from a reportorial role to a freelancer.
With a monthly salary of N45,000, an agreement was reached that the salary would be prorated to N20,000 for the month of May due to his shift towards freelance work.
He said this adjustment was documented, and he received a new offer letter acknowledging his change in status from a reporter to a freelancer.
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In May, Okezie informed Akinola he would like to work until June, still in his freelancing role, before he would officially resign, but his boss asked him to resign that May instead.
“As he requested, I turned in my resignation letter on May 15, and it was to take effect at the end of the month. But at the end of the month, I did not receive my salary,” Okezie told FIJ.
He said he reached out to Akinola in June to ask for his salary, but his former boss stated that he would be paid when the money was ready.
Okezie’s conclusion after he spoke with his boss was that the company was experiencing some financial difficulties at the time, so he asked an editor in the firm if everyone had received their salary for May.
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“My editor told me everyone received their salaries. June and July passed, and I did not receive my salary. At the beginning of August, I called my former boss and sent him a WhatsApp voice note, but he did not respond,” he said.
“So, I sent the voice message to my editor, who reached out to him. They relayed that he said he would pay when he was ready.”
Okezie also accused Akinola of withholding some N15,000 he was entitled to for attending a conference in August 2022.
In the same vein, he said that N5,000 meant to be an allowance in December 2022 was also denied because Akinola would not pay him.
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Upon FIJ’s attempt to reach out to Akinola for comment on the matter, Akinola indicated that his refusal to pay Okezie was an intentional decision. He asserted that he would transfer the owed money at his own discretion.
“When he came to work with me, he was not out of school yet, and we accepted him. He got it all wrong when he was supposed to leave. We agreed that he would stay for a while before he would leave, though not on paper,” he told FIJ on Friday.
“When they were about to do NYSC, he told the editor he was resigning, and it came as a shock. I asked him if he could do the branded articles and that we’d pay him as a freelancer, and he agreed. Two weeks before he left, he said he could not do it.
“This is deliberate. I am telling you to your face. He can do whatever he wants. Until I am done with my own side of it, then I will send the money any time I want.”
The post ‘This Is Deliberate,’ Publisher Dupe Akinola Withholding NYSC Member’s Salary Since May Says appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.