New Telegraph

Oronsaye report: Ready for high crime, suicide rates, workers warn FG

Civil Servants have said the Federal Government should expect high crime and suicide rates following its plans to implement the Stephen Oronsaye report on the restructuring and rationalisation of federal parastatals and agencies. Many workers are expected to be tossed into the labour market because of the economic problems, thus compounding the unemployment crisis.

 

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, had denied plans by the Federal Government to sack workers. However, she said government would encourage people to quit government jobs by giving them incentives.

 

But some of the workers, who are worried about their fate, accused government of insensitivity, considering the growing unemployment and poverty.

 

Workers, who spoke to New Telegraph at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, questioned the Muhammadu Buhari government’s decision to reduce the workforce at a time the country is facing security challenges.

 

They slammed the administration for its inability to address insecurity, saying sacking workers will worsen the crime rate. A middle-aged female worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the mass sacking would push more Nigerians into crime, starvation and suicide.

 

The woman, who has worked for close to two decades, said the administration has remained rudderless and from all indications, there is no solution at sight. She said: “Already we have the problem of unemployment, so I feel that the government is not really telling us what is going on.

 

Sacking workers at this critical time will not solve the problems that Nigeria has. “The government wants to increase the rates of unemployment and crime, while adding to the hardship that people are faced with.”

 

 

However, a public affairs analyst, Ben Ugaga, who defended the move to reduce the workforce, condemned the timing. According to him, although the civil service is bloated, the government should have waited for a better time to implement the White Paper on the Oronsaye report. He said: “If things get better, they can think of pruning the civil service, because it is actually a redundant workforce.

 

The Oronsaye report has been there for some time, when it was expedient to be implemented, it wasn’t. Professionally sneaking it  will sound good to prune the civil service for efficiency, but socially and politically speaking, in spite of the so-called bloated civil service; it is wrong.

 

“The rate of unemployment is contributing to the social vices in the country. When they say pruning, is it retiring those who are due for retirement or reducing the workforce by any means? “Are they going to engage new workers into the workforce, which has been lacking.

 

“For now, I will advise they should let the sleeping dog lie. What government should do is to think of more avenue to recruit more youths that we have on the streets, and appropriately retire those who are due and also pay them their entitlements, as that will help to re-engineer the economy.”

 

Recall that the Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies was constituted on August 18, 2011 and submitted its report on April 16, 2012.

 

The report recommended that of the 541 statutory and non-statutory federal parastatals, agencies and commissions, 263 statutory agencies should be reduced to 161, 38 agencies should be abolished, 52 agencies should be merged, and 14 should revert to departments in ministries

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