The Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, has said that the recent
disengagement of some workers at the embassy followed due process.
Senior officials at the embassy told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
that the benefits of the 15 local workers, who were recently laid off,
would be paid soon.
They said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja, approved the
disengagement of the workers due to some ongoing rationalisation of
workers at the embassy.
The officials, however, said the ministry had also approved the
payment of gratuities to the workers, some of whom had worked with the
embassy for more than 30 years.
Some of the affected workers had alleged that the decision to lay them off was arbitrary.
They also alleged that the embassy had no plans to pay their gratuity and other severance benefits.
Further, the local staff, who were mostly Nigerians, had accused the
Mission of retaining the non-Nigerian employees at the expense of those
who are of Nigerian nationality.
However, the embassy officials denied that there was no prior notice
to the disengaged workers, saying they actually agreed to the
arrangement since February 2017.
They also assured the workers that the processes for the payment of their entitlements had reached an advanced stage.
One of the officials said: “In February 2017, there was a decision to disengage some of the local staff.
“However, they pleaded to an arrangement to be on contract for another one year, which lapsed in February 2018. The ministry from Abuja
approved their disengagement.
“As I am talking to you, we have received approval from Abuja to pay
their benefits and they would be paid very soon. It is true that some of
them have put in up to 30 years of service.
“They were engaged on contracts and it is the decision of the
government to either continue to renew their contract or to terminate it
if their services are no longer needed.
“Some whose contracts were terminated in 2013 were not paid in full
but we are working out their benefits to make sure that those whose
appointments were terminated receive their full benefits.
“It is also not true that they were arbitrarily disengaged; they were
aware of the contract and they signed on to it since last year.”
NAN recalled that the embassy, in 2017, had several disagreements
with the local workers over the non-payment of salaries spanning several
months, leading to protest at the embassy at the time.
Some of the workers also embarked on work to rule, which disrupted
consular services at the embassy before they were paid following
approval of three months’ salary by the ministry.
NAN