Ministry workers lock up Perm Sec
WRITTEN BY SHEHU ABUBAKAR
MONDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2009 21:59

Workers of the Federal Ministry of Transport manning the sealed entrances to the ministry, yesterday.

Minister of Transport Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Bio was prevented from entering his office yesterday while his permanent secretary, Mr. Olufemi Olayisade was locked up in his seventh floor office by workers of the Federal Ministry of Transport in a dispute over unpaid allowances.
The Permanent Secretary, who was already in his office when the workers embarked on a demonstration, was prevented from leaving his office up to the time our reporter left the scene late in the afternoon yesterday. The demonstrating staff locked all entrances leading into the Ministry’s Zanna Bukar Dipcharima headquarters in the Central Business District and switched off all the lights, thereby preventing the use of the lift, air conditioners or other power appliances in the offices. The Permanent Secretary was sighted moving about in his office, fanning himself with old copies of newspapers and making frantic phone calls. Minister Bio, who was not in the office when the workers laid siege, was alerted by his personal aides and he stayed away.

Some of the demonstrating workers who spoke to Daily Trust said they were demanding Sallah, Christmas and New Year gifts from the management. They said it was a tradition in the Ministry to share money to them annually as Sallah, Christmas and end of year or New Year gifts, but that no such arrangements were made for them this year. They accused the Permanent Secretary of “frustrating all the efforts made” by them to convince the Minister to approve some welfare money for them.

“We succeeded in letting the Minister know what we wanted. The Minister called the Permanent Secretary and asked him to advise him on the matter, but he refused to give the appropriate advice, claiming that there was no provision for that by the government. We are aware that the office of the Head of Federal Civil Service (HOS) distributed some items to all their staff and are now sharing N80,000 to each of them. Are we more civil servants than the HOS? We are only demanding that the Permanent Secretary should come and address us so that we can ask him some fundamental questions.”

The workers’ spokesman also said, “We intend to ask the Permanent Secretary why they have been collecting hampers and cash gifts from the contractors handling all our railway, Niger River dredging and other contracts awarded by our ministry. We watched those contractors bringing such gifts to them in the office. Let him (the Permanent Secretary) tell us why they will collect hampers and refuse us to collect ours. We have N90 million stocked in the ministry for the past five years. The money is meant for the rehabilitation of the railways. That contract has been suspended and the money is still there. We are the ones keeping the money. Why can’t they pay us from there? Let them give us something for end of year.”

But the Secretary General of the Joint Union Council and Secretary of the Federal Civil Service Union of the ministry, Mr. Mustafa Grema said the issue of gifts was a secondary matter. He said, “The main issues are the non-payment of our allowances such as transfer benefits, retirement benefits for those that retired within 2009 and the failure of the ministry to send staff on training. We usually go on various trainings but this year they refused to sponsor staff training.”


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