Civil servants condemn FG’s plans to merge MDAs, threaten industrial action

Public servants under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) have condemned Federal Government’s decision to merge some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and plans to scrap others.

The union argued that the process would send several thousands of public service employees into the oversaturated labour market.

A statement issued yesterday by the union’s Secretary General, Alade Lawal, it threatened industrial unrest and urged labour unions, civil society groups, religious leaders and traditional rulers, among others, to prevail on government to halt to “the ill-advised policy in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.”

He said implementing the Steve Oronsaye Report, which recommended merging of some MDAs and scrapping of others at this critical time when the whole world was still suffering the ravaging effects of coronavirus, was unnecessary.

The ASCSN said thousands of public servants would lose their jobs if government implements the report, noting that the impression created before the public since the news broke was that government lacked empathy and was insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

It suggested that there might be a fifth columnist in government pushing for the implementation of the Oronsaye Report in order to mislead President Muhammadu Buhari into a collision course with millions of Nigerian workers with a view to disrupting the cordial relations between his administration and labour movement.

The ASCSN enjoined President Buhari to direct relevant organs of government plotting to implement the Oronsaye Report to desist forthwith so as not to trigger industrial and social unrest in the country at this critical time in the nation’s history.

It added that if government went ahead to implement the policy against Nigerian workers, it would certainly be recorded on the wrong side of history when the story of COVID-19 pandemic would be written.

“With billions of naira donated by some good-spirited Nigerians and international donors, the least we expect from government is to use the funds to upgrade medical facilities and plough others into welfare packages for Nigerians.

“But instead of doing that, the government is preoccupied with devising means of sacking thousands of workers in the guise of restructuring the MDAs. This, to us, is very unfortunate and unacceptable,” it stated.