The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, locked out staff of his ministry over their late resumption to office on Thursday.
According to reports, the workers consequently staged a protest following the Minister’s decision to lock them outside by blocking entry and exit points of the office.
While chanting “Umahi Must Go,” the staff lamented that they reside far away and there was no way they could come to the office early.
They also claim, as reported by Daily Post, that he stopped engineers and directors from doing their work, and has been breaking public service rules since his appointment, by bringing in consultants to run the affairs of the ministry.
According to a senior staff who who spoke with Leadership, the major reason for their coming to work late was because of the distance of where they are living.
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Some, he said, reside as far as Gwagwalada, Keffi, Abaji, Kuje, Kwali, and Kaduna Road satellite towns.
He added that often times they join others who have cars to reduce the cost of transportation.
“That some of them are on hundred thousand naira salary a month, some are on N80,000 salary a month and they are married people. So by the time you subtract both transport and everything, you have nothing left. So, they have to rely on one way or the other to come to office,” he said.
Umahi however later allowed them in but they refused to enter the Ministry’s building, insisting that the minister must come out and address them.
The officials noted that he did not warn or issue any circular to inform them that he was going going to lock them out.
Their desire, they posited, was for the minister to take measures that will solve their late coming.
