The industrial crisis is currently rocking the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), as hundreds of workers on Monday protested over what they termed poor working condition and welfare of workers in the agency.
The workers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Research Institute (ASURI) have also issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the Ministry of Science and Technology to address the challenges or face a shutdown of the ministry.
The Chairman of the union, Comrade Ogunmefun Samson while addressing the workers who as early as 8 am on Monday morning locked out all management staff at the corporate headquarters of the agency in Abuja, said there is no any form of organogram in the organization, adding that workers are working without proper equipment and under very poor condition.
According to Comrade Samson: “What we just requesting is a good working environment. As we speak to you, our working environment is in a comma. The way the agency is structured, it’s sinking, and we will not fold our arms and allow the agency to continue to sink.
“The management, if they don’t know what to do, they should allow those who are capable of doing it to come, because we are tired of negotiations.
“This struggle we are protesting about today has been on for a very long time. We have been on the issues for years. The management are only good in talking, when it comes to implementation, it’s difficult and we are tired. We have told them we don’t need any further negotiation. What we want at this point is implementation and as it stands now, we don’t have organogram, no proper welfare for the staff, no promotion.
“The year is coming to an end and no one has an ID card, there is no gazette, they just bring people in and dump them, no office table, no chairs, dilapidated structures, no toilet you have to use the bush, no internet connectivity and the money is being allocated for all these things but we don’t know where the money is going.
“We are tired of this kind of working environment because this is an agency, we will spend 30-35 years and we cannot continue to allow few people to hold us to ransom, we want an all-inclusive style of leadership and not just some set of people that will sit down and determine the destiny of workers.
“So we are calling on the relevant authority, the ministry, the government to come to our rescue. This is a peaceful demonstration, and we are using this time to register our displeasure because after now, we are heading to the ministry if nothing is done with immediate effect.
“We are giving the government 48 hours and if after 48 hours nothing is done, they should expect us in the ministry of technology, to go and carry on with our protest. This is just a peaceful demonstration that’s why you have not seen us moving to the main road. So if nothing is done in the next 48 hours, we will call for support from our sister agencies and we mobilised to the ministry.”
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