SERAP drags governors to ICC over unpaid salaries

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate eleven state governments in the country over their failure to pay many months salaries to their workers.

The organization in the petition to the Prosecutor, ICC, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, said the actions of the governors constituted crimes against tens of thousands of Nigerian workers by their state governments.

The affected states are Bayelsa, Benue, Bauchi, Osun, Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Ondo, and Plateau states.

In the petition dated July 7, 2016 and signed by SERAP Executive Director, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation expressed concern that non-payment of workers’ salaries by several state governments in the country has made life impossible to live for the workers and families.

SERAP therefore urged the ICC prosecutor, Mrs. Bensouda, “to bring to justice anyone who is responsible for the inhumane acts committed against Nigerian workers and prohibited under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to which Nigeria is a state party.”

The organization contended many Nigerians now face severe deprivation mental and physical health challenges as a result of the non-payment of their salaries.

It said that many governors have continue to hide under the excuse of ‘limited allocations from Abuja’ to deny these workers the fruit of their labour while the workers’ individual liability have continued to rise.

The petition stated in part: “Non-payment of salaries for several months have reduced Nigerian workers to ‘bare life’, or life not worth living, thus taking away their human dignity. The inhumanity of the non-payment of workers’ salaries is illustrated by the serious threats this poses to the workers’ physical and mental health, and family life as well as their ability to contribute to the development of the country. The non-payment of salaries has created an environment of powerlessness for several workers and perpetuated a system of impunity in many states.

“The state governors ought to know that their actions and/or omissions would likely to cause serious physical or mental suffering or a serious attack upon the human dignity of workers whose salaries are not paid.

“Article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court criminalises other inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. The treatment of many workers in several states reaches the level of ‘inhumane acts’ covered under this provision.

“Serious and systematic levels of inhuman and degrading treatment have expressly been recognised as qualifying as other ‘inhumane acts’. The same applies to the deprivation of adequate standard of living of thousands of workers such as adequate food, shelter, and medical care as a result of the non-payment of their salaries.

“In the present case, the inhumane acts include non-payment of salaries of workers; failure of governors to use their executive authority to ensure a viable and corruption-free state, failure to provide the necessary administrative, financial and political conditions to facilitate prompt and timely payment of workers’ salaries.

“To the extent that these acts expose tens of thousands of workers to inhumane acts while denying them the ability to challenge the legality of the action by the state governments, the acts can only be seen as a course of conduct involving the commission of inhumane acts.”, it stated