… Union trying to undermine Tribunal
The Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, has been charged to investigate the allegations of the staff of the Investments and Securities Tribunal (IST) under the auspices of amalgamated Union of Public Cooperation Civil Service Technical and Recreation Employees (AUPCTRE) against it management.
Saying the union agitations are deliberate attempt to cover up some of it atrocities hence sabotage and undermine government’s efforts of building a veritable capital market and entrenching a sustainable and vibrant Investment and Securities tribunal that can stand the test if time.
Address the press yesterday in Abuja, the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations for Justice and Equity (CSOJE) Chief Convener, Comrade Olayemi Success, said it investigation revealed that the staff are fighting to continue on the part of corruption which the current management is trying to stop.
He said staff had turned the Tribunal to a behemoth of corruption before the appointment of the management hence the agitation to stop the management from looking into their past activities.
Success said: “You can imagine a situation where staff decided to remove 10 per cent of any money that comes to the Tribunal and keep it in staff cooperative society account, when we all know that cooperative society is personal and voluntary, a situation where money are paid from government’s account without voucher on frivolous claims, a situation where contracts are awarded and fully paid for without execution.
“These and many more are the bizarre state of the Tribunal and any attempt to demand for explanation or clarification is what the AUPCTRE 1st chapter call high handedness by the new management.
“Furthermore, these staffs seems to have their collaborators in the supervising ministry, as the new Tribunal is not enjoying the much needed cooperation in the ministry to rescue the situation and bring the perpetrators to book,” he said.
He said the minister should independently verify the agitation of the staff and personally listen to the response of the Tribunal in her bid to salvage the situation as it is in the view of the organisation a plot by the union to sabotage and undermine the Tribunal’s efforts to sanitise the sector.
He also called on the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to beam their searchlight on the activities of the investment and Securities Tribunal, especially between 2016 and 2017 when there was no management in place.
