Union Accuses FG Of Plan To Sack Workers

The President Association of Women Doctors, Dr Boladale Mapayi (right), Leading other women Doctors in protest against women violence within the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-ife.

The Association of Se
nior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has accused the Federal government of plan to sack 23,000 workers under the guise of weeding out ghost workers.
In a stamen issued recently and jointly signed by the ASCSN National President C, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and the Secretary General, Comrade Alade Bashiri Lawal said that the union has it on good authority that the Federal Government planned to hide under the guise of hunting ghost workers to send thousands of public servants into the labour market at a time when the economic hardship had escalated.
The union threatened to cripple the public service if the Federal Government proceeds to sack any workers.
The union rather called on the Federal Government to set up a panel to investigate the alleged existence of 23,000 ghost workers in the Federal Public Service as recently announced.
The union stressed that all their overtures have been rebuffed by senior federal government officials on the need to set up a government labour panel to investigate the existence of the alleged ghost workers in the public service or make their names public.
The Union’s statement said “what is becoming clear now is that because of the merger of the ministries, the federal government is now bent  on reducing its workforce under the guise that there are 23,000 “ghost workers” in the public service.
The union further stressed that Nigerian workers and their trade unions cannot be taken for a ride anymore, adding that the federal government is against setting up Government-Labour panel to investigate and establish the authenticity of the so called ghost workers in the federal public service.
The union statement added that the “concerned workers are free citizens that have equal stake in the Nigerian project, so, why should some government officials think that they can be dishing out bad policies against Nigerian workers without getting input from them and their trade unions”.
The union further explained that the Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan worked closely with labour leaders to solve knotty labour issues without allowing such issues to degenerate into industrial crisis.
They said that the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as the umbrella bodies for the millions of Nigerian workers would continue to protect the rights of Nigerian workers in the face of bad and unpopular policies.
They appealed to President Mohammadu Buhari to call to order some senior government officials and further direct the appropriate ministries or agencies to institute  Government-Labour Panel to investigate the alleged existence of ghost workers in the Federal Public Service to resolve the issue without further delay.