– 317 employees earn over N11m each
Ike Amos
Dublin, Ireland — Continuing the culture of profligacy that has trailed the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), despite not refining a single drop of crude oil, paid N20.08 billion as salaries and allowances to its staff in 2021, according to latest financial information released by its parent company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Since 2015, when Buhari was elected the president of Nigeria, the KRPC had struggled to remain active, with the company shutting down its operations for almost the entirety of the almost eight-year period.
Irrespective of its redundancy, staff of the refinery continue to cart away millions in fat salaries and allowances annually, further fueling the widespread inequality in the country where majority of the population, according to World Bank and United Nation’s statistics, live below the poverty line.
The NNPC, in the recently audited financial statements, disclosed, however, that KRPC reduced its staff strength by 21.22 per cent to 516 staff in 2021, from 655 staff members in 2020.
Therefore, the payment of 20.08 billion to 516 staff in one year, translates to an average salary, wages and allowances of N38.91 million per employee.
Despite cutting down its staff strength by 21.22 per cent, the company stated that salaries and wages grew by 6.78 per cent to N7.796 billion in 2021, compared with N7.301 billion recorded in 2020.
The company reported that death benefits to families of deceased employees and burial expenses dropped to N4.325 million in 2021, from N7.753 million in 2020; while ‘other employee benefits’ stood at N12.283 billion, dropping by 34.34 per cent compared with N18.707 billion recorded in 2020.
The management of KRPC explained that: “Other employee benefits represents all other employee allowances which are neither salaries and wages nor death benefits. It comprises related employee benefits such as overtime allowances, housing allowances, etc.”
Furthermore, in its analysis of annual salary bank of its employees, KRPC disclosed compared to 2020, where 26 staff received between N2 million and N3 million, no staff fell within that range in 2021; while in two staff fell within the N3 million to N4 million salary band in 2021, compared with 50 staff in 2020.
Twenty staff and 47 staff, respectively, were in the category of N4 million to N5 million and N5 million to N6 million category, compared with 24 staff and 51 staff, respectively, in 2020.
The N6 million to N7 million category, N7 million to N8 million, N8 million to N9 million, N9 million to N10 million, and N10 million to N11 million annual salary band had 19 staff, 26 staff, 30 staff, 30 staff and 25 respectively, in the various categories.
The biggest drain on the finances of Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company in 2021, especially with regards to staff emoluments, was its ‘top heavy’ salary structure, with majority of its workforce — 317 staff out of its total staff strength of 516 — receiving the largest salary and allowances annually.
Specifically, 65 staff earned between N11 million to N12 million annually in 2021; 76 staff earned between N12 million and N13 million; 42 employees earned N13 million and N14 million annually; 22 staff received between N14 million and N15 million as salary annually, while 112 employees received N15 million and above as salary and allowances in the year under review.
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