Civil servants in Nigeria shut down the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance on Monday in protest of poor welfare since the appointment of the current Minister, Kemi Adeosun according to local media reports.
The workers blocked the entrances to Ministry building in Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja, preventing anyone from coming in, including the Minister. According to the protestors, they were disappointed due to lack of entitlements such as overtime allowances, training and other welfare packages.
Some of the protestors carried placards with their grievances written on it, some read “Adeosun: Pay us our N1.2 billion special overtime allowance”, ” PMB sack Mrs. Adeosun now. She is insensitive to workers’ welfare,” “Adeosun: you are destroying finance ministry, “You must go”, “You are incompetent “, “You are killing PMB’s change agenda.” according to Premium Times.
The government however said the allowances the workers were demanding are unknown to law. Adding that the special overtime that the workers were demanding for was stopped in 2014 and none of their claims were budgeted for in 2016 because it is not part of the remuneration in the federal public service.
“In view of the foregone, the Management of the Federal Ministry of Finance wishes to categorically state that the protests have no justifiable grounds,” said the spokesperson for the ministry, Salisu Dambatta in a released statement.
The statement further said ‘’The joint protest by some staff of the Federal Ministry of Finance, office of the accountant-general of the federation and the budget office of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, to back a demand for the payment of an unofficial allowance totalling N1.2 billion has been brought to the attention of the management of the Federal Ministry of Finance.”
