Organized Labour Raises Alarm Over FG’s Alleged Plan To Retrench Workers

Organized labour in the country has alleged that the federal government plans to lay off workers through their ministries, parastatals and agencies (MDA).

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) stated that the decision of the government to begin the process of merging some MDAs and scrap others was aimed at sending thousands of public civil employees into the labour market.

ASCSN Secretary General, Alade Bashir Lawal, expressed shock that the federal government would chose a time when the world, including Nigeria, was mourning the loss of thousands of people who have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic to implement the report which recommended the merger of some MDAs and the scrapping of others.

In a statement, the union said:

The reality is that if some MDAs are merged and others scrapped, thousands of public servants will surely lose their jobs.

We cannot understand the logic behind government’s decision at this material time when Nigerians are losing their loved ones while thousands of others are being afflicted by coronavirus.”

According to the union, the impression created before the members of the public since the news broke out was that the government lacked empathy and was insensitive to the suffering of millions of Nigerians.

Speaking further, it said that Nigeria was already rated among the poorest countries in the world, and if the government carried out its plan to throw thousands of workers into the labour market, the result would be monumental social crisis; the consequence of which was unpredictable.

The union urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct relevant branches of government planning to implement the report to desist forthwith so as to avoid industrial and social unrest in the country.

It beckoned on labour unions, civil society groups, religious leaders, traditional rulers and prominent citizens to prevail on the government to stop the ill-advised policy in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in the nation.