COVID-19: Ports health workers bemoan non-payment of hazard allowances

Federal Government has refused to pay the hazard allowances of personnel of Port Health Services, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and few others at the headquarters of the health agency in Abuja.

Investigations by our Correspondent revealed that the health workers who worked at Lagos Airport throughout the period of COVID-19 lockdown was promised to be paid three months hazard allowances by the Federal government; but while their colleagues in other locations such as Maritime, border posts and other airports across the nation who later joined they on duty have been paid their full hazard allowances, those in Lagos Airport and a few others are yet to be paid.

Our Correspondent learnt that only six (6) out of the 73 health workers in Lagos airport were paid while only three at the Abuja headquarters of the agency are also yet to be paid their allowances months after their colleagues in other stations have been paid.

A source, who spoke with our correspondent under the condition of anonymity, because it doesn’t have authority to speak on the issue said, ” we were surprised to hear through a memo that some of our colleagues in Abuja and Lagos Airport have not been paid the COVID-19 hazard allowances, two after we had gotten ours. I was shocked to know that out of the 73 health workers on the nominal roll in Murtala Muhammed Airport, only six of them have so far been paid. We sympathize with those Lagos people because they carried the major burdens of the primary screening of international passengers to prevent the spread of coronavirus through the airport. They risked their lives and those of their families members during the period of the COVID-19.

“Lagos airport, we all know, is the busiest. The PHS personnel there were always overstretched whenever there is any pandemic. I believe those in Lagos Airport should be the one to be taken care of first whenever allowances are to be paid,” the source said.

Another source who spoke with our correspondent at the Federal Ministry of Health in Abuja also regretted the development. The source which also confirmed that only six of the 73 health workers in Lagos Airport have so far been paid two months out of the promised three months COVID-19 hazard allowance, however, said only one person in the headquarters is yet to be paid the hazard allowance. The source which lamented the delay in paying the allowance to the Lagos staff noted that the delay may dampen the morale of the health workers considering the risks they were confronted with during the peak of COVID-19 lockdown and the stress it brought on them and their families.

“I am aware that only six of 73 of our colleagues in Lagos Airport have been paid the COVID-19 hazard allowances. We can’t just understand what is causing the delay. The Lagos Airport staff are the ones carrying the majority of the burden of primary screening of International passengers every day; because Lagos Airport is the busiest in terms of everything.

“It is however not true that some staffers in Abuja have not been paid. I can assure you that only one person is yet to be paid the allowance in Abuja. And that person is a woman in the headquarters. I am sure she would soon be paid. But the issue of the remaining 67 health workers in Lagos Airport who are yet to be paid, gives me serious concern. The delay should attract the attention of the management,” the source lamented.

To confirm the authenticity of the allegations and what could be responsible for the delay of payment of the COVID-19, calls and messages sent to Directors of Media and Department of Port Health Services (PHS), Federal Ministry of Health respectively, were yet to be replied as at the time of going to the press with this report.