sacked 24 members of staff involved in certificate fraud and illegal
conversion.
The State Coordinator of NIMC, Basil Ihejirika, said in Owerri on
Wednesday that the affected staff failed to prove the authenticity of
their certificates and mode of conversion to various grade levels in
the office.
He stressed that the issue of certificate falsification and mode of
conversion of the affected staff had lingered on for over two years
hence the management's decision to sack them.
Ihejirika said a panel was set up to investigate claims by those
concerned but that they refused to turn up.
"There is the issue of certificate falsification and it was also
observed by the management that their conversion to various levels did
not follow due process.
"For over two years, they have been called to explain to the panel but
they refused to appear before it," he said.
Ihejirika added that those mainly affected were former staff of
Department of National Civic Registration under the Ministry of
Internal Affairs.
"Those whose sack letters were to be handed to them on Tuesday got
wind of the plan and embarked on a demonstration and locked out other
members of staff."
He said the sack took effect from May 7.
Ihejirika explained that the office had notified the Commissioner of
Police in the state who ordered staff to enter their offices to
continue their work.
"Those affected should look at the Act that set up the commission,
which the management is following before engaging on their illegal
agitations.
"The commission carries out thorough screening before engaging its
staff because it wants to ward off people with questionable character
and those who do not have the required and relevant certificates.
"We have been paying them without engaging them in any form of work
for over two years and we don't want that to continue," Ihejirika
said.
Those protesting had anticipated their inclusion in the disengagement
due to the query issued to them last year.
Secretary of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria in the
state, Gamaliel Agbara, said they had commenced nationwide sympathy
strike with those affected with effect from Tuesday.
"That is why the premises of the commission is locked.
"Since the commission does not want to respect the court and decided
to sack our staff members nationwide, we don't have any option but to
embark on this strike.
"Already, 1000 of our men have been sacked nationwide and 4,500 staff
members have been disengaged since the present management of MIMC came
on board," Agbara said.
--NAN
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