Controversy hits Abuja Investment Company over imminent sack of workers

Again, trouble has started brewing between staff and the Interim Management Team of the Abuja Investment Company Limited, AICL over alleged plans to sack over 80 percent of its workforce on grounds of ‘incompetence’.

The Guardian learnt that palpable fears have gripped the workers who staged a protest against the interim management team of the agency established by the FCT administration for over 20 years ago to encourage the training of Nigerians in vocational skills and principally attracting foreign direct investments into the territory through various business incentives.

The aggrieved staffers are already soliciting the intervention of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Muhammad Musa Bello to immediately remove the Head of the interim management team of AICL, Dr. Isyaku Bashir for peace to reign in the organization.

It was alleged that the interim head, Dr. Isyaku Bashir has written a memo to the newly constituted board of AICL to sack 80 percent of its personnel on ground of ‘incompetence’, a development the workers vowed to resist.

The aggrieved workers also alleged that the interim head has intensified efforts to lobby the new board members to confirm his appointment at the expiration of its tenure.

One of the aggrieved staff who spoke on condition of anonymity described the development as “frivolous and unacceptable”, hinted that since the revelation of the interim management team bogus salary to the media and some anti-corruption agencies, there has not been any industrial harmony between staff and interim management team.

He said: “I want to state it very clear that the head of the interim management team has not be comfortable with the presence of most workers since August last year when their dubious salary scale was made public, the man is not comfortable with us because he felt that the present crop of staff will not allow him to carry on with his illegalities on the guise of fighting corruption’’.

Meanwhile, the Head of the AICL Interim Management Team, Dr. Isyaku Bashir told The Guardian on phone in Abuja that there is no truth in the matter.
Bashir said: ‘’There is no truth in this matter. I believe that some disgruntled elements just want to cause trouble for us. To be precise, sometimes last year, the only time we tried to sack someone here last year never worked. As soon as the matter got to the knowledge of the FCT Ministry, a memo was dispatched to us that we lack the power to recruit nor to sack staff of the agency’’.

Dr Bashir noted that the only thing his team did when some of the staff wanted to cause trouble in the office by engaging in rioting, was invite the police that brought everything under control.