…Wait till end of verification exercise, says gov

By Boluwaji Obahopo

LOKOJA—TRADE Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, yesterday accused Kogi State government of planning to sack no fewer than 16,000 of the state public workers.
The union claimed government had set up a parallel six-man committee aside the committee handling the ongoing screening exercise, with a mandate of reducing the workforce at all cost.

Chairman of TUC, in the state, Ranti Ojo, who spoke at a briefing in Lokoja, demanded for the disbandment of the alleged parallel committee, or labour would withdraw members serving on the screening/verification committee.

Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

He equally accused the government of witch-hunting Permanent Secretaries and other top government functionaries placed on 30-day compulsory leave without making public their alleged crimes.

According to him, “The union kept quiet while the first 30 days compulsory leave was given to the people by government, thinking that their offences would be made public before the expiration of the 30 days. But we are surprised by another circular dated 15th March, 2016 titled: “Re: Urgent Directives from the Executive Governor”; extending for another 30 days the compulsory leave granted to our members in the service of Kogi State even when none of them has actually been accused of and found guilty of any gross misconduct.

”This current action is tantamount to a witch-hunt and a negation of the civil service rules and regulations governing the conditions of service of our members in the state.”

The TUC chairman said although the union supported the on-going staff verification exercise, it would however not condone unwarranted punitive measures aimed at subjecting its members to ridicule and psychological torture.

Ojo, who also demanded the payment of the four months’ salary arrears of members of the union, lamented that members were dying of hunger and avoidable sicknesses daily, and threatened that Labour might be forced to resume the industrial action recently suspended.

“Our members cannot be borrowing money to transport themselves to the offices on empty stomach”, he stressed.

But in its reaction to the allegations, the state government through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Abdulmalik Abdulkarim, said: “When they were sent on leave initially, government explained that they were to go on the leave to enable it look into staff and financial records of the state uninterrupted, the exercise is yet to be completed.”

On the alleged plan to reduce the workforce, Abdulkarim said the union was only jumping into unnecessary conclusion as the committee in question was set up to ascertain the exact number of bonafide workers of the state.