Protesting Federal Ministry of Finance workers on Monday blocked their minister, Kemi Adeosun, from accessing her office at the ministry’s headquarters as they demanded “unpaid N1.2 billion special overtime allowances.”
Carrying placards with various inscriptions, the workers, consisting those from the ministry and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation as well as the Budget and National Planning ministry, locked the entrance to the ministry’s headquarters and prevented the minister from accessing her office when she arrived for work.
Other members of the public who had businesses to do in the ministry were also blocked from carrying out their various activities.
Although the protesting workers refused to speak to reporters about their grouses, some of the placards carried messages accusing the minister of insensitivity to the plight of workers.
Some of the placards read: “Adeosun: Pay us our N1.2 billion special overtime allowance”, “PMB sack Mrs. Adeosun now. She is insensitive to workers’ welfare,” “Adeosun: you are destroying finance ministry”, You must go”, “You are incompetent “, “You are killing PMB’s change agenda.”
When the minister waited for some time without the workers agreeing to free the entrance, her driver drove her away.
The government however said the allowances the workers were demanding were illegal.
An official of the ministry who didn’t want to be named told reporters that the allowances were not known to any extant rule of financial regulations
