By Tunde Johnson, Abuja
Some staff of Energy Commision of Nigeria (ECN), have protested at the Commission headquarters in Abuja over non-payment of allowances, poor welfare, alleged corruption and misappropriations of funds.
The workers, who came out on Tuesday in their numbers, blocked the entrance of the commission, abandoned their duty posts to drive home their demands chanting songs of displeasure.
Some of the placards carried by the staff reads: ‘’EYN is a Slave Camp, 29 Years after, ECN Lacks Appropriate Conditions and Scheme of Service, Enough of Incessant Violation of Financial Regulations, in Energy Commission of Nigeria, High Level Corruption in ECN Breach of Public Procurement Law in Purchase of Official Vehicles, Misappropriations of Funds Must Stop, ECN is not a Bazaar Account.’’
Promise Chukwu, leader of the protest who is the unit chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), ECN, explained that they were fed up with the antics of the director general of the commission.
‘’We are here to protest against the unfair labour practices taking place in the ECN such as: lack of training, delay in promotion of staff, lack of office equipment like computer and printers and no benefit for sick staff.
‘’We have tried to dialogue with him, precisely December 6, 2016. We had a meeting with the management, but to our greatest surprise, till date none of those agreements have been implemented.
‘’We agreed that there will be abolition of a special cadre in the commission called senior scientific officer one and two where an officer spend six years in that position.
‘’We discover that there is massive corruption and misappropriation in the commission, a voucher pasted on the board reads 11 million naira in favour of Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu and two others. What for?
‘’The management agreed that such cadre would be abolished but, to our greatest surprise Bala said the cadre would be approved by the minister, four months down the line, no approval yet.’’
