ECN union rejects DG, Bala’s reappointment, writes Presidency

 The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) at the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) has rejected the reappointment of the Director General, Professor Eli Jidere Bala and has written to President Muhammadu Buhari about it.

In a letter addressed to Daily Trust on the reappointment, the association said it operates as an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and feared the possible collapse of ECN as a result of the reappointment.

 

The Daily Trust reports that union had staged protest at ECN against the reappointment long before it was announced Prof. Bala’s first tenure ended in May 2018 after five years and was renewed starting from May 6, 2018, the union said.

 

The Commission is charged with the responsibility for strategic planning and coordination of national policies in the field of energy in all its ramifications.

 

The union in the letter to this paper and signed by the Chairman, Comrade Promise Chukwu said: “The petition rejecting the reappointment of Prof. E.J. Bala was signed by over 70 per cent of ECN staff.”

 

The petition register seen by Daily Trust revealed 173 names of the public officials in the various departments of the Commission who through their appended signatures, rejected the reappointment of the Director General.

 

In their open letter written to President Buhari, the union referred to previous letters written on September 11, 2017 and February 28, 2018 where they cited incompetence, maladministration, violation of public service rules and financial regulation as reasons for the rejection of the DG.

 

It read in part: “With the tonne of evidences on financial abuses, maladministration, incompetence and labour unfriendliness, reappointment of Prof. Bala constitutes national embarrassment to the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari whose cardinal policy and governance thrust is zero tolerance for corruption and, liability to energy-security nexus and hence impediment to national security and development.”

 

In the recent letter to President Buhari dated June 22, 2018, ASCSN-ECN Unit it requested him to review the reappointment of the DG, “based on damning reports on Prof. Bala by strategic agencies of the federal government and revoke same without further delay.

 

“The point ought to be belaboured that there are numerous patriotic Nigerians qualified to occupy such positions who will perform their duties without denting the anti-corruption war of Mr President,” the workers emphasized in their letter.