Trouble Looms As NEMA Sacks 48 Workers

Trouble Looms As NEMA Sacks 48 Workers.

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has sacked 48 workers, one year after they were recruited.

This online news platform understands that in 2019, 48 Nigerians were employed by the agency under the leadership of its former Director-General, Mustapha Maihaja.

This news platform gathered that the staff were given appointment letters dated December 24, 2019, and signed by Maihaja.

However, a copy of the letter seen by Daily Trust showed that the agency cancelled the same recruitment in January 2021 over alleged non-adherence to “the laid down rules and regulations guiding recruitment into the civil service.”

The new employees whose appointments were terminated about a year after being hired told the news medium that they were subjected to a rigorous selection process and were made to resign from their former jobs, to secure the NEMA jobs.

The letter conveying the cancellation of the appointment was dated January 25, 2021 and signed by the Deputy Director, Human Resource Development, Musa Zakari, on behalf of the director-general.

 “After a careful investigation of the processes and procedures followed, the outcome of the investigation shows that the laid down rules and regulations guiding recruitment into the civil service were not duly exhausted thereby vitiating the whole process and its outcome. As a result of the foregoing, the Agency hereby cancels the appointment letter issued to you forthwith being not in order,” the letter reads.

According to some of the affected staff, their sack was an outcome of a power play between the former director-general and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Internally Displaced Persons, Sadiya Umar-Farouk.

The source said one of the sacked staff recently lost his wife and has been undergoing serious trauma as he has been rendered jobless.

Another source, who pleaded anonymity for fear of victimization, said he had resumed duties at NEMA after documentation and issuance of a temporary staff identity card.

The source said he said some of his colleagues had worked for one year without pay and were awaiting enrolment into the Federal Government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) before their appointment was terminated.