The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said that the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should sack herself first before talking about sacking civil servants.
Recently CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi also called for the sack of about 50 percent of the civil servants because 70 percent of the nation's resources are consumed by them.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu in his reaction said that there was no plan to sack workers and added that government is doing everything to generate more jobs for the teeming youths in the country.
However, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Nkonjo-Iweala was on Monday quoted to have said that there was no going back on the planned mass sack of civil servants.
While reacting to the statement attributed to Iweala, Chairperson of TUC in FCT, Comrade Abdul Hakeem told LEADERSHIP that, "we will mobilise our members to resist such plans because sacking workers cannot improve the economy as envisaged by agents of death".
Comrade Abdul said that it was unfortunate that government was talking about sacking workers when there was growing insecurity which was as a result of youth unemployment and poverty.
He said that such comments show a high level of insensitivity on the part government.
"The Minister should first sack herself because whenever they need money to waste, they will remember civil servants are too much. The President at the beginning of the year said he would cut down the salary of political office holders and number of personnel going on overseas trip but nothing was done in that regard.
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Why do people prefer to go with misguided information? The minister was misquoted for crying out loud! She actually said the opposite of what she was reported to have said; and she has made that clear through a press release on Tuesday.
FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE
News Release. December 4, 2012
OKONJO-IWEALA DID NOT ADVOCATE MASS SACK IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
Yesterday, some media reports quoted the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as being in support of mass sack in the civil service.
This statement is absolutely untrue. What the Minister actually said was effectively the opp osite.
Specifically, she had stated that those canvassing for an increase in the capital budget and a concomitant reduction in recurrent expenditure should realise that the largest component of recurrent expenditure is personnel costs including salaries and wages.
That is why government is careful about the issue because behind those figures are human beings and families whom you cannot just throw away without considering the implications.
She explained that because of this fundamental issue, the government’s immediate strategy has focused on fighting waste and the ghost worker syndrome through mechanisms like biometrics.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala had also explained that implementing the Oronsaye Report on Civil Service Reforms which recommended that agencies performing the same functions be merged will have some effect on the capital-recurrent ratio but perhaps not as much as many Nigerians would like in the short term.
Paul C Nwabuikwu Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and and Minister of Finance