Workers are now protesting and demanding the sack of the embattled Director-General of the National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC), Professor Linus Asuquo, just about two weeks after a report exposed ongoing corruption and mismanagement at the centre.
The protest, which rocked the NMDC headquarters last Thursday, saw placard-carrying staff chanting “Asuquo Must Go”, “No to Nepotism”, “Intimidation and Abuse of Office is Enough and Must Stop”, while demanding urgent government intervention to rescue the once-promising research centre from total collapse.
This follows a high-powered delegation from the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to assess the situation. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Chris Osokpunwu, who led the delegation, assured workers that their concerns would not go unheard.
“I will put everything I have seen here today together in a report and forward it to the Honourable Minister. Action will be taken. No staff would be queried or victimised as a result of the peaceful protest embarked upon today,” he said, adding.
The workers, under the joint platform of their unions, called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure the revitalisation of the NMDC, which they described as one of the most strategically positioned research centres in Africa, but now a shadow of its former self due to failed leadership and monumental corruption.
Henry Muanleng, Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, ASURI, NMDC Branch, thanked the minister for sending the Permanent Secretary to witness the deplorable state of the centre.
“NMDC has the potential to lead metallurgical research in the region, but it has been run aground by failed leadership. Mr Linus Asuquo has failed in his responsibility to pilot the affairs of NMDC; hence, it is the collective resolution of all staff that he should step aside for a more competent and corruption-free leadership,” Mr Muanleng declared.
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