Austerity: Civil Servants Warn Against Workers Sack

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has warned of serious consequences if the Federal Government decides to retrench workers under the guise of austerity measures announced last month.
A statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the President of ASCSN, Bobboi Kaigama and Secretary-General, Alade Lawal, said that any attempt by the government to sack workers or reduce their salaries in the name of austerity measures will amount to a declaration of war on Nigerian workers and would be resisted by the labour movement.
The ASCSN said, “When the economy boomed, the political office holders were freeloading as if there is no tomorrow while most Nigerian workers live below $2 per day.  During that same period, workers called for better pay package but were rebuffed by the ruling elite. It was enjoyment galore for those in Government while helpless workers roasted as if they were not stakeholders in the system.
“Indeed, as of today, the meagre N18,000 monthly minimum wage approved in 2011 by the Federal Government has not been fully implemented by some State Governments and as such it will be the height of insensitivity for any Government to contemplate sacking Civil Servants or reducing their pay in the name of austerity measures.”
The group added that many times, the Union had advised the Federal Government to reduce the whopping pay packets and mouth-watering allowances of political office holders and check other leakages that encourage corruption in the system but the wise counsel fell on deaf ears.
It said, “Records will also show that this Union on several occasions cautioned the Federal Government to stop the depletion of foreign reserves and needless rush to seek foreign loans for white elephant projects because such mindless profligacy can only lead to the collapse of the economy.
Adding, “it is very sad that it took a drastic drop in the price of crude oil in the international market for the managers of the Nigerian economy including self-styled experts to realize that the Government must exercise restraint in the squander mania that has been going on in the country including plugging of loopholes to beef up Government revenue base.”
The ASCSN however wondered if the recent decision by the Federal Government to spend more than N9 billion to purchase stoves for “rural women” was not part of frivolous expenditure that had brought the economy to its knees.”
According to the ASCSN, the government should learn to conserve fund, avoid conspicuous consumption including the needless competition by political office holders to own private jets to be bought and maintained by the government.
“If political office holders do not check their greed, no amount of belt-tightening will save the economy. As we write, the life style of those in Government does not match the noise being made about austerity measures.  This, by implication means that the measures are meant for the poor masses of this country as opposed to the rich ones which the Government wants us to believe,” the organization said.