By Favour Nnabugwu,

ABUJA — Staff of the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, have vowed to continue the on-going strike as they take their grievances against the executive management of the commission to the National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

An official of the  Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees, AUPCTRE, who spoke to Vanguard, yesterday, said they met with the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions and the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters, who promised to wade into the matter.

The workers, who paralysed activities at the Abuja head office of NAICOM for the second day, also went to the Ministry of Finance, where the officials of the ministry directed that they suspended the strike and continue negotiation with the executive management before they could wade in.

The staff had threatened that the strike could last for a week, if no meaningful action was taken to address their grievances.

AUPCTRE chairman, NAICOM chapter, Comrade Ibrahim Abdulateef, claimed there had been gross mismanagement of funds by the executive management and lack of due process in the running of the commission’s affairs.

But the Assistant Director (Press) of the commission, Mr AbdulRsaaq Salami, in a swift reaction, denied all the allegations of the workers, stating that no such thing happened in the commission.

The protesters carried several placards, with such inscriptions such as “Corruption in NAICOM’, “N9m- NAICOM executive management bribes politicians”; George Onakhena spent $70,000 on medical fitness”, “Mismanagement in NAICOIM”, “Nepotism, Favouritism in NAICOM”, “Minister of Finance confirmed undergraduate as Director (Inspectorate) in NAICOM.”

Abdulateef further alleged that the commission lavished money on politicians at the detriment of staff overdue for training.

It was gathered that following a collective agreement between the management and the union in December 2015, the management agreed to release the 2016 training plan/schedule to enable staff know through their respective heads of department or the approved commission’s information media when they were to embark on their training to prepare ahead.