BY BRIGHT JACOB AND MAYOWA SAMUEL
The National Civil Service Union has lambasted critics speaking against the government’s continued payment of salaries to its workers, who have been ordered to sit at home so as to curb the spread of COVID-19 and ultimately protect their health.
President of NCSU, Lawrence Amechi, who described the critics as “enemies of government” and “anti-workers” for criticising the government who is just trying to protect its workers from the pandemic, asked them to mind their business.
Amechi spoke with The Point in reaction to a statement by former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, who was apparently appalled at the development and described the government’s constant payment from borrowed funds to idle and unproductive workers sitting at home, as a national scandal.
He also decried the government’s failure to create an online mechanism that would have enab led the workers to perform their regular duties from their respective homes.
The government had in March 2020, declared a national lockdown so as to curb the spread of COVID-19. Three months later, the government eased the lockdown, enabling markets, bars, night clubs, relaxation spots, religious gatherings, amongst others, to open for activities.
But despite the lifting of the restriction of movement in the country 20 months ago, the decline of COVID-19 infections and related deaths, along with the COVID-19 safety protocols being widely publicised to citizens for them to adhere to, as well as the COVID-19 vaccines being brought into the country at several intervals, federal government still asked its workers from Grade Level 13 and below to remain at home, while still being regularly paid their salaries.
While expressing his displeasure at Osita’s statement, Amechi said, “The government is just trying to eradicate this deadly disease within the country. If my workers were not paid their salaries, I will fight the government. They were paid salaries, they stayed at home to work in order to eradicate COVID-19, and people are asking why they should be at home?
“Those who said so are anti-workers, they are enemies of workers. They should go to hell. It’s not their business. Do they want them to go to work and be killed by a disease that has no remedy as of now? The government said that they should stay at home and work from home, and they complied,” he further stated.
“Civil servants have a contract of employment and it depends on what their terms of employment says. If the federal government is the one saying they should not come to work and it’s not on their own volition, then they have to be paid, so long the employee has not been terminated even though they are at home because of the pandemic, life is more important
“
Although stressing the need for the government to make the welfare of its workers a priority, Rahman Owokoniran, the People’s Democratic Party’s South West Zonal Secretary also shared Osita’s thoughts while speaking to The Point.
Owokoniran said, “I think it is incumbent on the federal government that the office environment is COVID-compliant. We’ve had sufficient time to make sure people operate from their homes. Having said that, the system whereby people work from home is being encouraged all over the world but at least, they will be doing the work. All over the world, people have created environments whereby people can work from home through different online operations. From that point of view, it’s not out of place.
“But where they have been given no job and have been sitting at home doing nothing but just earning salaries, it is not the best for our economy. To be giving free money to idle people is like throwing money into the lagoon which is not supposed to be so.
“What we should be developing is a productive enterprise whereby people can earn their pay, live up to their responsibilities and from that point on, you’ll give the economy life. But when you are borrowing money here and there, creating a debt profile for the country that God knows which generation will be able to pay back, it is reckless and irresponsible of that government,” he maintained.
He faulted the government on the December 1, 2021 deadline given its workers to get vaccinated before resuming work. He said government should have treated them as fronliners by making the vaccines available for them in particular which would have enhanced their ability to come to work throughout the period.
In his words, he said, “If you want them to be vaccinated, make the vaccine available. We should have a government who cares about the people. If you want vaccination to be taking place, you have local government offices or clinics, make the vaccines available there, then you can now introduce any kind of law that will ensure that everybody is vaccinated. The civil servants are supposed to be frontliners.
“However, if you want to be in the civil service, you have to be vaccinated because you are risking the lives of others. If you want a choice to either be vaccinated or not, then you should also take a choice to either keep your job or not because once you are dealing with the public, you must adhere to the rules.
“You can’t spread the virus if you want to be in public. You can kill yourself in your own private home but don’t go and kill others that you are attending to. They must be ready to comply with the rules,” Owokoniran advised.
On his part, a lawyer, Yomi Ogunsanya, spoke to The Point on the legal implications of giving the workers the condition of taking the vaccine before December when they are supposed to resume work at their various offices.
In October, the Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 and Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha said that, “With effect from December 1, 2021, Federal Government employees shall be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours to gain access to their offices in all locations within Nigeria and our missions.”
Explaining whether this directive represents an infringement against their right, Ogunsanya said, “Civil servants have a contract of employment and it depends on what their terms of employment says. If the federal government is the one saying they should not come to work and it’s not on their own volition, then they have to be paid, so long the employment has not been terminated even though they are at home because of the pandemic, life is more important.”
He pointed out that, “They can’t force civil servants to take the vaccine though. You’ll expect the respective bodies and associations of the civil servants to take the matter up. Those who want to take it should take it and those who don’t want to, may not.”
He however added that, “It’s an issue of health. The thing is just that those who don’t want to take should not endanger the lives of those who want to take and those who have taken. So, if you choose not to take the vaccine and if the government says you can’t come to work for refusing to take the vaccine, well, that will be in order.
“Government ought to have brought them back because safety measures have already been put in place and those saddled with the responsibility for its implementation are already working at optimal capacity,” Ogunsanya noted.
