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FG in a fix over 3,500 redundant workers
•Pressure on Presidency to scrap Due Process policy
By Bassey Udo
Snr
Correspondent, Abuja
Inability to pay
severance benefits appears to have boxed the government into a corner in the
matter of 3,500 employees forced into redundancy by the implementation of the
monetisation policy.
The workers,
mostly drivers from across all the ministries, departments and agencies, are
idle following the disposal of their official vehicles at the take off of the
policy last year.
The development
comes at a time pressure is mounting on Aso Rock to abolish the Due Process
policy.
Though Finance
Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said recently that due process has saved over N110
billion since its inception, critics say the goals of the 2005 budget presented
by President Olusegun Obasanjo last week may not be realised with the policy in
place.
A source in the
National Assembly said the implementation of the policy is capable of delaying
the achievement of government objectives.
On top of that, a
Presidency source confirmed in Abuja on Tuesday that even a greater number of
others in the same situation as the idle drivers are scattered throughout
ministries’ out-stations in the 36 states and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) as well as the National Assembly and the Presidency.
The monetisation
policy was recommended by the World Bank as part of measures to reduce
government bloated work force and curtail the huge monthly expenses on
overheads.
It was initially
heralded as well thought out, whereas not many considered the weight of the
huge financial burden the government would bear in settling the benefits of
those to be weeded out.
Some of the
affected drivers are fortunate to have bought some of the vehicles, however,
thousands of others are without vehicles to carry out their official duties,
even though they report for duty daily.
Said the source:
“Most of the drivers come to work every day as usual and roam around
without any official schedule.
“It appears
the government is comfortable with the continued payment of their salaries when
they have not been rendered redundant. Apparently, the government is in a
quandary about what to do with the policy. What they have found out is that it
is cheaper to continue paying the salaries of the affected workers than their
entitlements and benefits if they were to be retired.”
Some of the
affected workers have put in between 12 and 15 years in service and each of
them alone may be entitled to as much as N2 million if government were to
retire them.
Considering
everyone involved, this would translate into several billions of naira, an
amount the government may not be in a position to afford at this point in time.
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