Staff of the federal ministry of Information, yesterday, protested at the Radio House over non-payment of their allowances. The workers, who came out in their numbers, abandoned their duty posts to drive home their demand for the intervention of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh Lai Mohammed. The protesters, who chanted songs of displeasure…
Staff of the federal ministry of Information, yesterday, protested at the Radio House over non-payment of their allowances.
The workers, who came out in their numbers, abandoned their duty posts to drive home their demand for the intervention of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alh Lai Mohammed.
The protesters, who chanted songs of displeasure and blocked the gate of the ministry, told reporters that they were subjected to work under poor conditions, delay of promotion arrears, non-payment of repatriation allowances and selective training of staff.
Some of the placards wielding by the staffs read:’’ Our welfare must be paramount. Minister, Permanent Secretary pay our 2016 Abuja
carnival stipend. Pay our retirement, repatriation allowance. Enough is enough. Enough of the continuous silence.
The leader of the protest who is the union chairman of Ministry Of Information, Comrade Wadam Wuron said that the staff of the Ministry are fed up with antics of the Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Mohammed. He said “Today is the day of judgment we all have to take our destiny by our hands. Enough is enough of the tricks that the management of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture have been playing on the floor since the inception of this management nothing has moved.
In his reaction to the protest, the information minister told State House Correspondents that It is not unusual for unions to call for the removal of ministers as any minister should expect that.
He said the protesters are complaining about welfare but there is a limit to what government can do within the available resources.
“As much as we sympathise with them on the situation, the economy is simply not healthy enough to accommodate what is used to accommodate in the past. “If anybody is concerned and worried about expenditures in my ministry, they should go and check because it is open. He pointed out that he has appealed to them several times but the government met a culture that they cannot sustain.
He added that “If and when the economy improves, we will look into some of the grievances that are genuine’’.
Tanwa Ashiru
Tanwa Ashiru is a U.S Airforce veteran, and the CEO of Bulwark Intelligence Solutions. She holds an M.A in Intelligence Studies from American Military University (AMU) and is a Fellow of the Association of Enterprise Risk Management Professionals (AERMP).
Tanwa has provided services for various public and private sector organizations including: NATO, Nigerian DIA, U.S Army Africa Forces (USARAF), Total E&P, IBM Nigeria, U.S Embassy Abuja and many more.
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