Anambra Sacks 11 Workers Over Forgery

Eleven employees of the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS), have been sacked for allegedly forging their ages and certificates, the Commissioner for Information, Youths and Culture, Chief Joe-Martins Uzodike, said recently.

Uzodike told newsmen that the exercise was carried out as part of the ongoing rationalisation of the state media outfit, adding that more than 100 workers had been disengaged from the establishment for redeployment to other organisations.

He said that the workers would be sent to organisations “where they could be useful to the state government’’. “Apart from that, the government had taken a decision that all the staff of ABS, who were sent to other ministries on secondment, would remain there. “By that development, they would cease to be staff of the ABS,” the commissioner said.

Uzodike described as “saddening” the inability of the management of ABS to pay its 385 staff January salary, which was one of the reasons for the rationalisation.

“The worrisome aspect was that the management squandered a whopping sum of N16 million that had always been set aside for the payment of pensions and gratuities without being able to pay staff salary. “No responsible government can allow this rascality to continue, hence the need for the rationalisation. “Government also realised that a lot of the staff come to work once a week and disappear till the following week when they will resurface,” Uzodike added.