In addition, one of the employees who talked with SaharaReporters on Monday called Edet Aniede, the agency’s director-general, a tribalist.

Following the announcement of the list of candidates for the 2024 promotion tests, certain employees of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) in Kaduna State have claimed that the management has refused to promote them.

The employees claimed that because of their purported participation in a demonstration that was held in April 2024 about the non-payment of their allowances and wage arrears, the management had removed their names from the list that was made public on October 7.

In addition, one of the employees who talked with SaharaReporters on Monday called Edet Aniede, the agency’s director-general, a tribalist.

The employees saw that the DG had deleted off the list of protesting employees who were refused promotions the names of all Cross River and Akwa Ibom employees who shared the same tribe.

Since we participated in the previous protest, DICON management has refused to promote us, and none of the requests we made have been fulfilled as of yet.

“Major General Edet Aniede is a highly tribalistic person; he took out of the staff list all the names of the Cross River and Akwa Ibom employees who shared the same ethnicity as him and were not given promotions.

“He has been charged with splitting up the DICON employees, including Akwa Ibom/Cross River. The source said that oppression is experienced by those who are not members of his tribe.

But in an email to DAILYPULSE on Monday, DICON Chief Public Relations Officer John Fulani said he would follow up as soon as he had further information.

“I will get back to you, when we have fact,” he responded.

When their allowances and salary arrears were not paid, employees of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) in Kaduna State staged a protest, as documented by SaharaReporters in April.

Banners with messages for the management, such as “Enrolment into IPPIS,” were observed by SaharaReporters on the personnel. “Payment of our 6months palatives,” “Payment of 2019 minimum wage arrears,” “Stop lopsided payment of allowance,” “Payment of 2022 and 2023 promotion arrears.”

One of the workers informed SaharaReporters that unsolved problems involving unpaid wage arrears, underpaid allowances, and several other difficulties were the cause of the protest.

“Unexpectedly, the night before our demonstration, the corporation’s management purposefully set fire to one of its abandoned manufacturing buildings (designated as G3) in the complex, which is strongly guarded by military soldiers.

“It’s possible that the fire was set intentionally to blame us and deflect attention from our complaints in the public and media.

“The protest highlighted ongoing tensions between the staff and management, as we are demanding the president to intervene in these issues and direct our immediate enrolment into IPPIS and immediate settlement of our unpaid allowances,” said the employees.

Employees of DICON in Kaduna State issued a threat of strike when the government did not fulfil its six-month commitment to pay the N35,000 salary award.

While all other federal personnel had been paid for the six months, several DICON staff members informed SaharaReporters that they had not received money for any month from the program’s launch in September 2023.

Concerns over the non-payment of their federally-cleared 2019 minimum wage arrears have also been voiced.