The Abia State Government has strongly reacted to a statement made by the state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, encouraging civil and public servants in Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, and including the 17 LGAs to avoid participating in the online upload of their credentials, as sanctioned by the state government through its Head of Service, Mrs Ngozi Obioma.
The Commissioner for Information and culture, Okey Kanu, had in strong words, criticised the NLC directive while speaking at Government House, Umuahia, during a briefing journalists regarding the outcome of this week’s Executive Council Meeting, presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
Ogbonnaya Okoro, the NLC state chairman had been the one to give the controversial order and according to him, the online credentials upload was a ploy to subject civil servants in the state to another round of difficulties, under the guise that it was another form of verification.
Kanu had disputed this however, with the explanation that the issue of upload of requisite credentials was warranted by the government’s discovery of lack of necessary credentials in the files of certain civil servants and public servants.
He additionally, cleared the air and denied that the credentials upload was yet, ‘another verification exercise,’ as was being touted by the NLC.
Afterwards, he chided the NLC in the state for not being fair to the government’s commitment to improving the welfare of Abia workers.
Finally, he urged the organized labour to not destroy the good relationship between the workers and Abia State Government.
What They’re Saying
“The government discovered that some people don’t possess the right credentials and it was because some appointments were supposed to be made. The governor asked that the files of workers be looked through and those who were qualified to take up those positions let their papers be brought forward,” the Commissioner had said to Journalists.
“It was during that process that it was discovered that a lot of people didn’t have their credentials,” Kanu continued.
Why It Matters
Due to the present tensions in the country between the NLC and the Federal Government, it is easy to understand where the former os coming from with the directive it give its members.
However, the NLC could have engaged more constructively with the government to address these concerns without resorting to directives that may have exacerbated tensions had the State government hone about the matter in the wrong way.
