FG might be at it again through the Minister of Health, doing what they know how to do best, using propaganda and uhruhuru tactics to break the rank and file of organised labour made up mostly of civil servants by threatening to invoke NO WORK,NO PAY clause against workers obeying the stay away from work rule as ordered by union leaders.
The question :when did it become the exclusive preserve of the Health Minister in a nation to threaten NO WORK,NO PAY? Is he now the Minister of Labour and Productivity.
Abegi jare, we are not deterred, Nigerians are resolute to fight to the last until Brother Jona with no shoes remembers that he was once part of the masses he his now making life miserable for.
Vive Fuel Subsidy Removal protests
Business activities at the Abuja secretariat housing the majority of the federal ministries were on Monday paralysed as workers refused to show up in obedience to the nationwide strike against the removal of fuel subsidy.
However, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, threatened that he would implement the no-work-no-pay rule for workers of the ministry and its parastatals who refused to turn up for work.
Chukwu, who was disappointed that a majority of the workers failed to report for work, said the ministry would be forced to punish them.
He said, “Some workers are here and like you observed many others didn’t turn up. There are basic laws of the country that if you don’t come to work, you don’t get salary. So, I believe it will be implemented.
“I don’t have issues with the unions for now. There are normal public service rules and if any member of staff feels he or she has been unjustly treated, the worker has a right to petition the appropriate quarters and lay a formal complaint, and of course, it will be looked into in its own merit.”
Our correspondent learnt that the civil servants decided not to report to work due to a security alarm said to have been raised by the United States Embassy over a planned bomb in the Federal Capital Territory.
As early as 8am heavily armed security officials cordoned off the secretariat, including the portion housing the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
But the President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Mr. Olaitan Olukunle, told our correspondent that the strike recorded 70 per cent success in Abuja.
He said, “So far, the whole thing went smoothly and there was no problem at the time I got field reports. We recorded 70 per cent success, but I have to wait for a comprehensive report for us to come to accurate judgment. We will continue with the strike so long as the government refuses to back down. In Taraba State the report I got was that civil servants did not come out to work.”
The Secretary-General of ASCSN, Mr. Solomon Onaghinon, described the strike as “very successful.”
He said, “The Abuja secretariat has been shut down and since that is the hub of civil service and government business, the strike can be described as very successful.
“Reports reaching me indicated that all the secretariats in 23 states have been closed down by the strike and in Lagos it is very successful.”
Culled from The Pucnch Newspaper