Operatives of the Ondo State Safety Community Company, often known as Amotekun Corps, on Monday petitioned the State Home of Meeting over the non-issuance of formal appointment letters practically 4 years after their recruitment.
The aggrieved officers, in a petition filed by their authorized counsel and human rights activist, Tope Temokun, lamented the state authorities’s failure to regularise their official engagement since they had been recruited in 2020.
Whereas describing their state of affairs as pathetic, notably when in comparison with the advantages and formal employment constructions loved by their counterparts in different South-West states, the operatives disclosed that they had been solely issued warrant playing cards, a follow they argue strips them of basic labour rights.
They maintained that the continued absence of formal employment letters constitutes discrimination, unfair labour follow, and a violation of their constitutional and worldwide rights to work underneath truthful, lawful, and passable situations.
The petition, addressed to the Speaker of the Ondo State Home of Meeting, was additionally copied to the State Lawyer-Basic, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Commerce Union Congress (TUC), the Home Committee on Human Capital Improvement, and the Committee on Allocation and Welfare.
Within the petition, Temokun, who emphasised the present follow denies the safety operatives important advantages, together with job safety, pension rights, and the dignity accorded to formally recognised employees, confused that the state of affairs leaves them in a precarious and weak place, regardless of the high-risk nature of their service in combating insecurity throughout the state.
The petition learn, “Our purchasers have been within the steady service of Ondo State underneath the Amotekun Corps because the institution of the Company by legislation in 2020. They’ve discharged their duties faithfully and at nice private danger in defence of lives and property throughout the State.
“Regrettably, from inception until date, no letter of appointment has been issued to the officers of the Corps in Ondo State, although their counterparts in different States of the South-West area, the place Amotekun operates, have been duly issued appointment letters.
“As a substitute, our purchasers got mere warrant playing cards, that are operational devices, however which in legislation can’t be an alternative choice to an employment contract. A warrant card is solely an operational instrument which solely identifies an officer for discipline obligation. It doesn’t set out phrases of service, wage, self-discipline, or pension rights. It isn’t a written contract stating duties, advantages, or phrases of employment, as required underneath Part 7 of the Labour Act, Cap L1, LFN 2004.
“With out appointment letters, officers may be dismissed at will, with out due course of. That is the hallmark of casualisation — preserving employees in a perpetual state of insecurity. A warrant card can not fulfill this authorized requirement. By issuing solely warrant playing cards, Ondo State treats full-time Amotekun officers as if they’re informal or advert hoc employees, regardless of them performing everlasting, life-threatening duties, in uniform, underneath state management, taking the dangers of safety operatives.
“The denial of appointment letters has uncovered these officers to job insecurity and illegal casualisation, opposite to Part 7 of the Labour Act. Amotekun officers in Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, and Ogun have appointment letters.
Ondo officers are denied the identical, which is discriminatory underneath Part 42 of the 1999 Structure.
“In different states the place Amotekun operates, like Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, and Ogun, Amotekun officers have appointment letters, whereas Ondo officers are denied the identical. By withholding similar, Ondo alone discriminates towards its personal officers in violation of their rights towards discrimination assured underneath Part 42 of the Structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
“It offends the ideas of truthful labour follow and humane situations of labor enshrined in Part 17(3) CFRN and Article 15 of the African Constitution on Human and Folks’s Rights. Since years of service aren’t formally documented, officers danger being handled as “momentary” employees indefinitely, no matter how lengthy they serve.
With the lawyer urging the Meeting to represent an inquiry into the event, he referred to as for the investigation of the variety of officers on the payroll of the Ondo State Safety Community Company and the fee information of the officers to determine whether or not the month-to-month fee file displays the variety of reliable officers within the service of the Corps.
“Non-confirmation of employees appointment and non-documentation mechanically give room for the existence of ghost employees, resulting in financial loss to the federal government. Mandate the issuance of appointment letters to all officers of the Amotekun Corps in Ondo State forthwith, with full recognition of years already served for pension and seniority functions.
4. Mandate recognition of years of service of officers of Amotekun in Ondo State for the needs of retirement yr, pension and gratuity. Take all crucial legislative and oversight measures to make sure compliance with constitutional and statutory obligations in direction of our purchasers.
“These officers are dedicated to the safety of Ondo State and have demonstrated this via years of service. What they now search is equity, dignity, and the authorized recognition of their standing as workers of the state.”
