IS THE SACK OF WORKERS THE SOLUTION?

With the proposed plan by the federal government (FG) to reduce the workforce by its’ thousands across the country, Nigerians are desirous of answers to the numerous questions.

Between 2016 and today, the country has recorded the highest mass sack ever in its' history and this has affected every strata including the private sector. Therefore, there are fears that  2017 might not be any different..

Available reports shows that as much as 3,500 workers under various government parastatal across the country will be affected by the federal government plan.

Investigation shows that those most likely to be affected are persons with irregular appointments that are not backed by approved declared vacancies, in which case, government does not have the financial provision for them.

Sources at the Federal Civil Service Commission disclosed that, all appointment letters have a stipulated validity period of two months within which they must be accepted failing which the offer will lapse.

“Where some were backed by approved declared vacancies, the offers were not accepted within the stipulated two months”, the source stated.

“The commission also observed that some letters were outrightly faked and some of these faked ones are under investigation”, he concluded.

Though this might not come as a surprise to most Nigerians as there are many similarly situations especially in the past few months in the country, it must be recalled  that the Federal Government had dismissed a total of 184 civil servants for the different roles they played in the padding of the country’s budget in 2016.

Towards the tail end of 2016, not less than 21 senior officials of Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) lost their jobs and this did not include the various DG’s who were relieved of their appointments in the early part of the same year.

These are just the few instances in the brief lifespan of this administration to show that it has destroyed more jobs than they have given Nigerians. Stakeholders have however cautioned that this act must not continue if the president has the interest of the nation at heart.

Why sack people from their jobs at the time critical period when the country is facing a lot of problems?

The poor educational system in Nigeria has not helped matters as none of the universities are placed with the first ten in Africa nor has she been able to employ an appreciable percentage of her graduates.

In its' 56 years history, Nigerians cannot boast of quality and sustainable education, affordable health care facilities, good roads, good water and many others.

Nigeria’s economy, in the past 21 months, has been under recession with Boko Haram attacks and Herdsmen attacks multiplying daily and this has given Nigerians many reasons to kick against the Buhari’s presidency.

It is therefore imperative that,before Buhari goes ahead with the sack of more workers, he should have a rethink and make things right from his own end first by putting the country back on its feet.

Ogbu John writes from Abuja and can be reached at ogbujohn@info.j