The subscribers of the Glo mobile network in four local government areas of Ondo State have been unable to use the network for the past two weeks as the 33 stations in the areas have been shut down by the security men manning them.
The affected four local government areas are:
1. Akoko North-East
2. Akoko North-West
3. Akoko South-East
4. Akoko South-West Local Governments
According to reports, the guards were said to have taken the action in protest against the telecom giants following non-payment of their salaries for the past 11 months by the security outfit, Concord Security Limited, contracted by Glo to hire the guards.
Some of the 66 guards who spoke on condition of anonymity on Friday lamented that the security company was owing them 11 months salary, and they could not cope doing the job again. One of them said;
“We have to shut down the stations we are guarding because of non-payment of our salaries, we have contacted our employer, Concord Security Limited in Akure but our boss, Mr. Friday told us that Glo was owing him that is why he too is owing us.
“We want to appeal to the management of Glo Telecommunicaton to pay our company so that they could pay us too. We are earning N10,000 as salary per month, you can see that that is too small for us but we are managing it, yet they are denying us the money, this is unfair”
The General Manager of Concord Security Company, who was identified as Mr. Friday admitted that the company was owing the security guards. According to Daily Post, the man said he was owing the workers because Glo was owing him too, but explained that the matter has been resolved.
“ We are owing them, we are not denying that; it is due to the economic problem in the country. Our client, Globacom is owing us 16 months and we are able to pay the security up to 11 months. I have talked to them that it was not an intentional act for us to owe them because we are contractors. When our clients pay us, we pay our workers,” Friday explained