Politics
SOME Nigerians have called on President Bola Tinubu to walk his talk in ensuring that the implementation of the Oronsaye Report did not lead to job loss.
The stakeholders who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja said the implementation of the report, aimed at restructuring federal government’s departments and agencies, was a step in the right direction.
They contended that while it came at a right time the country was grappling with biting economy, it must not be used to inflict pains on workers by relieving them of their jobs.
The stakeholders, specifically, urged the federal government to keep to its promise made by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris that there would no job loss.
Idris had said: “The whole idea is that the government wants to reduce cost and also improve efficiency in service delivery.
“It does not mean that the government is out to retrench workers or throw people into the labour market’’.
Mrs Zainab Ahmed, a civil servant, said the implementation of the report would save the country billions of Naira in budget allocations to some agencies with overlapping functions.
“It is a right step at reducing cost of governance. The downsizing of the departments and agencies is expected to save Nigeria a lot of money.
“But, my appeal to the government is to ensure that workers in the affected agencies are not thrown into the labour market,’’ she said.
Another civil servant, Mr Richard Robinson corroborated Ahmed that the implementation of the report, after 11 years of being in the shelves, was in the best interest of the country.
“The idea here is to reduce unnecessary budgets for numerous agencies with similar functions.
“Although, the report has taken so much time, but its implementation is coming at the right time that there is the urgent need to reduce cost of governance.
“I am appealing to the government to protect the interest of the workers so that it will not cause any harm to those who had already secured jobs,’’ Robinson said.
Mrs Uduak Amah, a retired civil servant urged the committee handling the process to put measures in place to protect workers’ interest.
Mrs Comfort Agu said the National Commission for Refugees, Migrant and Internally Displaced Persons where her sister is working is among the agencies affected by the policy.
“The Commission is merged with the National Emergency Management Agency.
“My fear is that, all the workers in the Commission may be asked to go and it took my sister over ten years after she graduated from the university to secure the appointment.
“My appeal is that workers in those agencies should be protected, ‘’ she said
NAN recalls that the President on Feb. 26 ordered the full implementation of the Oronsaye report.
Idris revealed this to State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
He had announced the merging, subsuming, scraping and relocation of several agencies of government.
“What this means is that a number of agencies, commissions, and some departments have actually been scrapped.
“Some have been modified, and marked while others have been subsumed.
“Others, of course, have also been moved from some ministries to others where the government feels they will operate better,’’ Idris had said
(NAN)
A.
-March 04, 2024 @ 17:11 GMT|
Tags: Mohammed Idris Mr Richard Robinson Mrs Zainab Ahmed Oronsaye Report President Bola Tinubu
