Governors Under Attack For Recommending Sack Of Workers Above 50years

Nigerian Governors have come under fire since reports emerged that they recommended to President Muhammadu Buhari, the sack of federal civil servants who are above 50 years old.

The governors were said to have made the proposal at a meeting they had with Buhari in July, according to a report by Premium Times and sources privy to details of the meeting.

The governors were said to have proposed that the civil servants who are above 50years should be offered one-off retirement package to exit the service – (totalling N350 billion).

To replace the civil servants, the governors said the Federal government should employ lower-cost, more ICT-compliant youths and women graduates.

In the proposal, the governors had reportedly urged President Muhammadu Buhari to begin the implementation of the updated Stephen Oronsaye Report, which recommended merger and shutdown of agencies and parastatals with duplicated or contested functions as a way to address bureaucratic inefficiency and reduce the cost of governance.

Since the emergence of the report, the organised labour, yesterday, lambasted state governors over the proposal they made to the Federal Government to offer federal civil servants who are older than 50 years a one-off retirement package to exit the service.

The National President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Tommy Okon, who spoke with the members of the press said no matter how the governors arrived at the proposal, they are enemies to the economy.

“Look at their ages, those who wants to be president of this country. When they have failed, they tie it to the workers. Is it workers that make the economy fail? We will reply them appropriately, as I don’t want to be personal about it,” Okon said.

The General Secretary of the Nigeria labour Congress (NLC), Emmanuel Ugboaja, in his reaction said the governors’ proposal is an indication that they clearly lack  understanding of how a nation works.

“It doesn’t make any sense; because they have not been working, they don’t understand what work talks. Work is not done by age but by skills, routine and process. You don’t just pay off because you don’t know whether the person is a skilled person whom the next skilled person is five years under him,” he said.

Reacting also, former lawmaker, Shehu Sani who took to his verified Twitter handle on Sunday, challenged the governors on the move, asking them to start relieving themselves since most of them were older than 50years.

“The Governors want Buhari to sack civil servants that are over fifty years of age; they should have start from themselves since all of them are over fifty”, the tweet read.