Civilian staff of the Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), Kaduna, have accused the management of the corporation for allegedly ordering soldiers to beat them during a peaceful protest to demand for the non payment of their allowances.
The peaceful protest which held on Monday at the Kakuri factory of the corporation, was the second in recent time.
The workers were protesting the non payment of their six months “peculiar allowance,” and minimum wage arrears since 2019 as well as promotion arrears for 2020 to 2022.
Narrating their ordeal in the hands, the workers said they arrived at the Kakuri factory of the DICON for the peaceful protest around 8:00am, alleging that the management drafted soldiers to stop the protest.
They alleged that they were forcefully pushed out of the corporation’s premises to the nearby Monday Market in Kakuri.
One of the protesting workers who spoke with journalists alleged said the soldiers were armed and in the process of chasing them out of the premises, one of the their colleagues who was using his mobile phone to record the peaceful protest was beaten.
He said another staff, identified as Bala, a civilian security man in the factory, was arrested and taken into custody by the armed soldiers.
The workers also lamented the lack of enrollment into the IPPIS scheme, saying they were suffering in the service of DICON.
The workers demanded the immediate payment of their full promotion arrears for 2020 to 2022, and their peculiar allowance to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy, among other demands.
Speaking further, he said, “We discovered that all agencies under Ministry of Defence have been enrolled into IPPIS, only DICON staff have not been captured.
“One of our members was beaten by soldiers and another was taken into custody by soldiers because we demanded for our rights. The management ordered the soldiers to deal with us.”
The protesting workers called on the federal government to intervene by directing the management of DICON to respond to their demands and stop victimising them for voicing out their concerns regarding the maltreatment and denial of their rights.
When contacted on the issue, Musa Yakubu, DICON Public Relations Officer, said he was not on the ground.
“Sorry sir, I am not on ground thank you”, Yakubu said through a text message.
