Labour shuts down Institute of Mining and Geosciences, wants CEO, Bamali sacked [PHOTOS]

The Joint Action Congress of the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of the Nigeria Institute of Mining and Geosciences on Tuesday called for the immediate removal of the Director/CEO of the institute.

Leaders of SSAUTHRIAI and NASU, Comrades Ralph Ogunsanya and John Gyang, while briefing journalists after sealing headquarters of the Institute in Jos, the Plateau state capital, called on the federal government to relieve Director/CEO, Dr. Umar Seidu Bamali of his job.

"A lot of petitions against the Director/CEO are before the anti-graft agencies viz EFCC, ICPC and the Honourable Minister of Mines and Steel Development against corruption”, they said.

“We unequivocally demand that Dr. Umar Seidu Bamali be relieved of his positions as Director/CEO of the Institute with immediate effect.

“We unequivocally demand that an audit team should be sent to the Institute (NIMG) by the Federal Government to probe the Finances of the Institute from 2014 to date.

“We unequivocally demand that our 53.37% CONRAISS arrears be computed without further delay, as the Director/CEO was directed by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity to compute the arrears which he has refused to comply since 2015.”

The Unions called on the Minister to urgently send a visitation panel or taskforce to the Institute to assess its affairs.

They also lamented that nepotism favouritism, witch-hunting and religious bigotry which they said are inimical to the survival and progress of the Institute has become the order of the day.

They decried the “vindictive deployment of staff of the Institute which was done without regards to staff areas of specialization or competence”.

“The academic mandate of the Institute has been truncated to the extent a student turns a lecturer teaching himself and his colleagues without any relevant qualification.

"We cannot continue to run the Institute as a private company. As we are committed to building a virile public service, let us begin the process of change from the Nigeria Institute of Mining and Geosciences (NIMG), Jos”, the Unions stressed