James Ojo, Abuja
The National Administrative Council (NAC) of the Nigeria Civil Service Union has described as obsolete and insensitive the plan by the Federal Government to implement the merging and scrapping of some government Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs) as recommended by the Steve Oronsaye committee report.
As past of measures to respond to the effects of COVID-19, President Mohammadu Buhari recently directed the implementation of the Oronsaye report which was constituted by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012 to find ways of cutting cost on governance.
The union in the report of its tele-video conferencing held to x-ray the effects of the proposed merger and crapping of MDAs condemned the implementation of the recommendations of the Oronsaye report urging for its review to align with contemporary realities.
“The timing of this process by the government without due consideration of the outbreak of COVID-19 which has destabilised the entire human race globally will be adding to the prevailing hardship and, amounting to the Federal Government bringing into birth another new virus that will spell doom to our nation. We regret greatly to inform concerned parties and government that the said report is obsolete and need a holistic review with the involvement of relevant stakeholders like labour movement, civil societies, upper and lower legislative chambers, Federal Ministry of Labour, to revisit the content therein in order to enable it reflect the current situation for the betterment of our citizens and the nation,” said General Secretary of NAC, Yahaya Idris Ndako.
The union decried the attempt by an elected government to implement a policy that would lead to job losses and criminality at a time when it should be concerned with how to boost employment.