The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sack

  • Jonathan urges police commission to sack bad officers

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged the Police Service Commission (PSC) to flush out those he called bad eggs from the police.

    The President expressed worry over the widespread indiscipline in the force.

    Jonathan spoke at the Presidential Villa after swearing-in the new PSC Chairman and retired Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Chief Mike Okiro, and five members. Other members of the PSC are: Yakubu Mohammed, Justice Olufunmilola Adekeye, Aisha Tukur, Comfort Obi and Tonye Anyim.

    The President urged the PSC to instil discipline in members of the force and ensure that promotions are done on merit.

    He said he was under pressure to sack police officers from the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ASP) to the top following the bombing of the Force Headquarters in 2011 by the Boko Haram sect.

    According to him, indiscipline and irregularities in staff promotions are also rampant in other military and para-military services, which have been adversely affecting their performance.

    Recalling the recent screening of six candidates for the post of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), the President stressed that most of them did not merit the position but deserved to be sacked from the service.

    He said: “But I believe there are two things: one is the issue of discipline. So, one of the responsibilities of the PSC is to instil discipline. Another thing, I believe, is that people who have no merit for certain ranks are being promoted to those ranks. One of your responsibilities is to handle promotions. I believe only those who merit or deserve promotion should be promoted.

    “Those who deserve to be disciplined or even dismissed must be disciplined. Few days back, I did approve the new Comptroller-General of Immigration, who brought the list of about six that were to be reviewed. Some were sent from the ministry, some were picked from amongst the most senior.

    “When we reviewed the six, from my intelligent investigation, most of them were supposed to have been dismissed. But those were the people that were being forwarded for appointment as Comptroller-General of Immigration. Only one of them is qualified to even stay and serve; others, ordinarily, are supposed to be dismissed from the records.

    “I believe that the story of Immigration is the same with most of our services. I believe also that is why the performance of some of our military and para-military officers is abysmal, because the yardstick being used for promotion is not based on competence, merit and performance.

    “That is one area I believe you will look into. People who are promoted to assistant police commissioners and above must merit the ranks. If you don’t merit the rank, you should be retired from the service, because it’s better for you not have enough manpower than for you to have viruses and all kinds of characters in the police force.”

  • Aero workers reject sack

    Aero workers reject sack

    Over 600 workers of Aero Airlines yesterday stormed the headquarters of the company to protest what they described as unwarranted distribution of sack letters to their homes.

    They said they were not allowed to acknowledge the letters and that the decision of the airline is at variance with a court injunction on the matter.

    The workers, who took over the road leading to the airlines’ corporate headquarters in Lagos, said the option of sack explored by the management would compound the airlines’ problems, as passengers’ confidence is fast eroding over the inability to resolve workers’ welfare.

    The workers said the management of the airlines would force them to take the law into their hands, as the blanket sack is an insult to the spirit of collective bargaining and a violation of the laws affecting personnel engagement.

    Addressing the workers, the Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Transport Employees(NUATE), Comrade Motajo Abdulkareem, said what the management of the airlines has done is in gross violation of the agreement it reached with the union on how to resolve the impasse.

     

  • Reps back sack of 4,029 workers

    Members of the House of Representatives yesterday backed the sack of 4, 029 workers by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

    They urged President Goodkuck Jonathan to direct the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) to absorb the sacked workers into Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).

    The decision of the lawmakers followed the adoption of the report of the Committee on Public Petitions on the dismissal of the workers.

    Chairman of the Committee Uzo Azubuike said the committee has no problem with the mass sack because due process was followed by the management.

    He said: “Our Committee had no problem with the exercise because facts before us revealed that the commission had to act against redundancy.

    “As a result, when the new platform was deployed by the private partner, it turned out that one person can now do the work of five people in 10 minutes.”

  • ACN condemns sack of varsity workers

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State has condemned the sack of 63 workers of the Adekunle Ajasin University (AAU), Akungba Akoko.

    In a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Agbede, ACN said: “It is ironic that this is coming barely two months after the purported victory of the Labour Party (LP) in the October 20 governorship poll and one cannot but marvel about this unique way of saying thank you to the people by relieving them of their means of livelihood.

    “That this termination of appointment was carried out at this period, when every family is looking up to a joyous celebration in this Yuletide season, aptly shows that the character ruling this state has no human feeling.

    “It is not surprising that Governor Olusegun Mimiko; his brother and AAU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Femi Mimiko and Dan Nwanyanwu, the Chairman of AAU Council, have become cruel.

    “Having failed to secure the foreign loan, which was stopped by the National Assembly, the governor decided to recoup the money he spent during the last election by downsizing the workforce, starting with AAU.”

    CPC urged Ondo people and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to come to the aid of the sacked workers.