Why the affected staff of NIMC must be compensated!

Let me start by saying that i don’t care whatever constitutional or political reasons behind the current action of NIMC management for laying off 4,029 of their long-time standing staff. It is quite sad that government establishments has refused to let go of there habit of use and dump. It beats my imagination to riggle out why somebody will think that the best way of solving efficiency problem is by getting rid of old staff and employing new staff with same qualifications, skills and experience as the sacked staff.

NIMC management claimed that the affected staff refused to upgrade their qualifications, the question is, did the commission accord them any opportunity of doing so? A non-affected reliable source from the Commission said and i quote “the DG employs only those who are closest to him, his family members, his Church members, his extended relations etc.”, why will he sack people he claim to have low qualification and then went ahead to hire people of the same low qualification as the fired people? Many of this affected staff applied to further their studies but the management never approved their applications, some whose application was approved are still in school yet were sacked as well.

The Director General is quoted as saying “that even if the affected staff protest or go to court, it will make no difference since he has wet the ground”. There is a claim from the side of the affected staff that the major reason why the DG sacked them was because of the increment made in their salaries. Grade Level 5 officers were receiving N20,000 – N25,000 but before the sack letters came in, their salary was increased to N150,000. So will it be right if i say the DG sacked these people to enable his own people enjoy the salary increment?

The Director General claimed that the affected staff members were inherited by NIMC from the defunct Department of National Civic Registration(DNCR) under the former Ministry of Internal Affairs now Ministry of Interior…this transfer happened about ten years ago(2002), why wasn’t they declared incompetent or over-bloated then or apply the funny method of Ecobank Plc when they acquired Oceanic Bank? Why wait after 10 years? Why will the commission stagnate the staff on level 04 and 05 since 2002?

It is unacceptable and inappropriate for NIMC to say that the affected staff will not be paid pension since the government discontinued pension. These people never get to steal public fund like top government staff do, they give their ultimate best in making sure their job is done diligently, in fact, they have given 10 years of their youthful strength in service to this commission and i see no reason why the commission will refuse to compensate them for sudden discharge.

There is enough problem already in Nigeria, the government should desist from compounding it.