Workers from the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology have staged a peaceful protest in Abuja Wednesday demanding for the sack of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Dr.(Mrs) Amina Muhammed Bello Shamaki.
The group, whic identified itself as the Amalgamated Staff Union of Research Institutes is in collaboration with the Joint Union Negotiating Council of the Ministry of Science and Technology. They were about a hundred in number and carrying placards with various inscriptions such as:
*Go Shamaki Go
*Shamaki must go!
*Shamaki has left
*Dr (Mrs) Shamaki Shamaki, Perm. Sec. Min. Science&Tech. Must go!
walked through the length and breadth of Central Business District in Abuja to establish their seriousness.
According to the leader of the group who pleaded anonymity, “We want our Perm Sec to go. This is our third protest since last year and we have gone to different agencies and ministries. She does not have any right to continue in office. She is a saboteur. If you know anyone you can talk to that will listen to us, please do.
“We have gone to the head of service and were assured that she would go. However, she came to the office this morning with about fifty police men armed to the teeth. Even those fighting Boko Haram are not as intimidating as they looked. So we are carrying out a peaceful protest as you can see we are not breaking anything, let her go,” he said.
Another protester, Mrs Sharon Jones, said that: “The protest has to do with a manager who lacks the skill to manage material and human resources. When the Minister gives order for her to go right, she would prefer to go left. She broke into the ministry by 8am today and we believe she must have taken away some valuable information for the ministry’s progress.
“Yesterday, we informed the head of service, the DSS and others and they are aware of this protest. Unfortunately, government has never found a reason to sack her. This time around, we want a solution to our problems in the ministry starting with her sack.”
