Vegetable coy: Those agitating for protest not fair to Taraba govt – CEO

The recent newspaper publication (not on Blueprint) which purported that workers protested against the management of Taraba state owned vegetable Company  also known as the Green House has been described as unfounded, and that those involved are enemies  of progress of the present government led by Governor Darius Ishaku.

Reacting to the purported publication, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Taraba Investment and Properties Limited, Mr. Iliya Ezekiel, described  their action as laughable, full of lies.

Ezekeil said the so called sponsors of the publication should have had a re-think on the projects of the government in the Investment House since 2015 where many companies were revived.

According to him, at the green house, workers appeared during salary payment day but with the weeding out of some bad eggs, every staff is disciplined, and contribute highly to the productivity of the company which has thereby triggered high efficiency and performance.

He also said a reputable company of like the Taraba vegetable company which was established by the governor to alleviate the suffering of the teeming masses of the state and Nigerians at large could be turned into jamboree if the management were weak in observing discipline.

He explained that the workers were engaged based on the agreements in their appointment letters that their productivity and performance would be valued after six months before their confirmation.

Iliya said, after the first six months of appraisal assessments, management found out that many failed badly to meet up with the pass mark of the  productivity standard in conformity with a minimum of 70% for confirmation, and 50% for special consideration on another probationary period and were meant to extend to another six months.

“The company which was established to deliver profits to the state has to conduct another appraisal exercise where 30% of the workers failed to meet up, and later demanded that we pay them off any entitlements due to them. This was obliged.

“I have been very considerate of the plight of the workers considering lack of employments in the society but the staff don’t care and we cannot love them more than themselves as they decided not to come to work until the pay day,” he explained.

He informed that those coming to work regularly and contributing to greater performance of the company have no issue and were confirmed as permanent staff.

The investment and properties CEO said the company hadn’t done anything wrong to instill discipline, and that the management did not sack any staff but some staff choose to leave the services of the company because they couldn’t observe strict discipline and rules of the company.

He further said that the green house which is a subsidiary of the Taraba  Investment and Properties Limited was one of the new companies established to deliver good returns to the government adding, “the Investment House shall never agree to miss that target to lazy workers.”

He also enumerated that the administration of governor Ishaku since he came on board in 2015 has revived not less than eight companies with about 7, 000 employments generated.

According to him, “What is left now is the investments consolidation and sustainability of the revived companies in order to attract investors to co-own equity.”

He called on sponsors of the protesters to have a rethink and support the present government in its quest to put the state on a global map in order to attract investors for greater development, than to anchor on destroying legacies, truths and performance of the present  government.

He however, thanked the governor for his tireless efforts in ensuring that young hard working men and women of Taraba were gaining progressive self development in areas of employments in the investment house.

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