W
orkers under the aegis of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, on Monday staged a protest at the premises of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, over inordinate attitude of NEPZA to staff welfare.
The aggrieved workers, who carried placards of various inscriptions, locked the gates to NEPZA headquarters in Abuja, thereby preventing staff and customers of other institutions occupying the premises, including banks and professional bodies, from gaining access into the premises as at 6am.
Some of the placards read: ‘Other staff like NEPZA management staff need to be paid their claims and allowances,’ ‘Promotion is our right not a privilege,’ ‘Management settle investors’ problems instead of directing them to other agencies,’ ‘NEPZA staff say no to intimidation and harassment of union executive,’ among others.
The association in a statement co-signed by Ofili Emmanuel and Samari Yakubu, chairman and secretary, noted that several letters to the NEPZA management over unpaid allowances and claims proved abortive just as the management under the managing director, Gbenga Kuye, had made promotion a privilege, at the discretion of management.
The union further accused NEPZA management of employing general managers since August 2011 without following due process, and that the managers had been feeding on illegal allowances from within the authority and assignments that take them outside the country.