Airtel Managers Quizzed By Lagos House

The Lagos State House of Assembly, this morning, grilled officials of Airtel, a telecommunication company, over the alleged sack of 3000 staff of the company.

Airtel was represented by officials of Blue Flower, a consultancy firm managing the Airtel account.

The Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who addressed them at the chamber, lamented the situation.

He said the officials were invited to answer questions bordering on the allegation that they sacked 1000 staff resident in Lagos, adding that the action could cause upheaval if not addressed.

One of the officials who represented Airtel, Jubril Saba, the Human Resources Director of Airtel, said the sacked workers were staff of a third party company and were on secondment to Airtel.

Saba, however, said Airtel has agreed to re-absorb the staff.

He explained that the company wanted to employ direct labour rather than through agencies. But before the company could carry out the action, he said, labour and civil society coalition came into the picture.

He said the company had met with the Minister of Labour and the Nigerian Labour Congress and it has been agreed that the sacked staff be reinstated pending the resolution of a meeting currently going on between the company and stakeholders in the country.

He also said the cut in the salary of the staff currently in the workforce of the company has also been discussed.

Lawmakers thanked the company for honouring the invitation and raised other issues relating to telecommunication services in the country.

As at the time of filing this report, the deliberation was still on at the Assembly.

—Eromosele Ebhomele