BEVERLY HILLS, October 19, (THEWILL) – Workers of the National Foods, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) have declared a two-week warning strike over what they called management’s deaf ear to their plight.
Members of the institution’s union, on Wednesday, stormed the NAFDAC Headquarters at Afprint Area of the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway with placards which brought activities in the area to a halt as motorists and passers-by on the road got interested in the solidarity of the activists.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read “President Buhari, give us Director General in NAFDAC”, “Impunity in NAFDAC must stop”.
Chairman of the Federal Area Council of the Federal Ministry of Health Workers Union, Lagos, Comrade Attah Ibrahim, who spoke at the occasion, declared that the plight endured by NAFDAC workers had posed serious danger to the health of the nation.
He listed the workers’ plight to include “discrepancy in allowances with workers of Federal Ministry of Health which was grossly against the rules establishing NAFDAC in 1994.
“Non-promotion of staff whose status had been due for uplifting since 2012, in addition to the absence of a NAFDAC board and appointment of a substantive Director General to replace the incumbent Mrs. Yetunde Oni who has operated on acting capacity.
“NAFDAC is bleeding and bleeding seriously and if nothing is done to adequately address the suffering being encountered by the workers, the consequences will be disastrous for the country.
“We expect all these complaints to be addressed within the next weeks of this warning strike, failure which we will be forced to embark on indefinite strike,” Ibrahim added.
Chairman of Lagos Branch of the NAFDAC Workers Union, Comrade Peter Anzaku, declared that the role of NAFDAC in sanitising the nation’s health ought to make it expedient on the Federal Government to intervene in the ongoing crisis.
“We have written several memos to government on this regard since 2012 because of our quest for industrial harmony but no to avail, hence this unavoidable strike,” Anzaku said.
Story by Oputah David
