DESPITE the criticisms trailing the recent sack of non-indigenes in its workforce, the Abia State Government at the weekend said it would not rescind the decision.

This was disclosed at the weekend by the Information/Strategy Commissioner, Okwubunka Don Ubani while speaking to journalists in Umuahia.

He said, “the decision is irreversible despite the criticisms in many quarters. The policy is not negotiable, no amount of criticism will make government change its mind, it was well thought out and taken by the government in the interest of Abians. Other South East states had earlier disengaged Abians in their service years ago without any fuss.”

He recalled that Enugu State Government was the first to sack Abia workers in its public service and wondered why the Enugu State House of Assembly was now condemning the same action taken by Abia State years after, even as Abia State lawmakers approved the policy.

Reacting to the recent advertorial sponsored by Association of Anambra State Development Unions in Aba on the same issue, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Conflict Management, Dr. Anthony C.B Agbazuere, pointed out that there was law in the state backing the policy.

According to him: “An employee cannot be forced on an employer, while a contract of employment is not a fundamental right as many have been ignorantly conjecturing. With the return of Abia indigenes in some northern states as a result of the insurgence of Boko Haram, coupled with the implication of the N18,000 minimum wage, Abia State Government is constrained to face its primary responsibility, which is Abia citizens.”

Also reacting to the report credited to the Aba branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), which held that the policy was done in bad faith, the Special Adviser to the governor on Electronic Media, Chief Ugo Emezue in a statement accused the NBA of acting ignorantly, asserting that, “the issue of transfer of service of non-indigenes did not start with the Abia State Government, as it had been effected long earlier in several other places in the country.”

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on Oct 16 2011. Filed under Abia, Headlines, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry