Ebong Udoma, one of the international journalists who have accused former vice president Atiku Abubakar’s company of owing salaries and breaching contract, has lamented the way he was treated, saying he was left in disbelief that a company owned by the politician could treat him like that.
Udoma had been brought from the United States to work for Gotel Africa Media Limited as Editor-in-Chief. He said the accommodation promised him in his contract was never provided as he had to pay for his own house.
He added that salaries, about $61,000, are being owed, saying when their auditors went through the account books, they slashed the money to $44,000 in 2016. He said the auditors claimed the other part for 13 months’ tax.
Udoma noted that he is yet to be issued any tax documents.
“There is a dispute about how much is owed because they claimed that I worked for 11 months although they said they took 13 months’ worth of taxes from it so I don’t know how that works but anyway, I have all the documentation.
“When I left, they signed an agreement that they owed me the money and then months later, they said they brought in an auditor to go over the books, and then they said they owed less than the initial amount of money on my exit agreement. I think what is on the exit agreement was $61,000 and they said they owed $44,000 after their audit. And then after that, they said that most of that was for taxes they had paid to the government, plunging the sum to around $15,000.
“So I said okay, I am not disputing any taxes but give me the receipts but I did not receive any receipts that any taxes were paid on my behalf. So I don’t know who they paid those taxes to. They had a breakdown. Even then, they still said they owed money and that they would pay.
“Everything was in dollars and they said in November 2016 that that was what they owed and that they would pay but they never paid. If after disputing the amount, what the board said they owed, they paid, I would understand but they didn’t pay,” he told The Punch in an interview.
Udoma revealed that other aggrieved employees have employed the services of a lawyer in a bid to force the company to pay their outstanding salaries. He expressed disappointment in the company, saying their total disregard for labor laws was alarming.
He said he would never accept to work for any Nigerian company after his experience with Gotel. He noted that it was not his first time of working in the country as he had covered the 1993 and 1999 general elections but he had worked for American outfits on the projects.