National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) workers under the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), yesterday protested against impending sack of 1000 of its members.
The protesters laid siege at the entrances of the commission preventing vehicular movements and normal work activities in the premises.
They also accused Mr Chris Onyemenam, director general of the commission, of tribalism and misappropriation of funds.
Comrade Aliyu Abdul Hakeem, chairman of the Trade Union Congress TUC, FCT, condemned what he described as unlawful labour practices in the commission.
He said,” There is a lot of ungoly and unruly labour practices going on in this premises. It is like a slave camp where the labour laws are not expected, where the CEOs treats their workers as if they are slaves .”
He said that the DG upon assumption into office, had initially sacked over 5000 workers in the commission and disregarded orders demanding him to recall them.
Hakeem, who also called for the removal and prosecution of Onyemenam for alleged misappropriation of public funds, said the NIMC bose has embezzled the funds that was allocated for the production of ID cards running into billions.
He said, “We are not just asking him to be removed because he is going to be removed, we want him to be investigated. If he is found guilty of stealing Nigeria public money, he should be jailed. That is our demand, he is unfit for public office.”
But in his reaction, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar, NIMC‘s general manager, Corporate Communication, faulted the union’s demands, saying that the affected workers did not scale through the verification process.
According to him, the certificates presented for employment by the affected employees were forged and fake.
“This is a protest orchestrated by the old association that NIMC employees were under and their clamours are numerous. What they are asking the management to do for them are numerous but the fact is that NIMC as a public service organisation, the preponderance of our staff strength are no longer under the union.
“Rather, NIMC has moved to the Senior Staff Association of Telecommunications. Basically, there are two unions here pulling muscles and issues at stake are issues of certificate forgery arising from verification exercises that have been carried out to authenticate genuine staff members who have requisite qualification under the NIMC employment policy that says the minimum qualification shall be HND or degree.
Umar also faulted the call for the DG’s removal, saying that,” the DG has spent almost eight years to revolutionalise the identity sector in the country and you know change is always bitter and painful.