N3.24 Severance Package: ASCSN tasks Jonathan to show example

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, has called President Goodluck Jonathan to reject his share of the N3.24 severance package approved by the presidency for political office holders, as a way of leading by example for others to follow.

The association was reacting to an exclusive report by The Punch over the severance package the presidency has approved for current political appointees who are due to leave office at the expiration of the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan.

“If the President and all those that have been awarded the jumbo pay refuse to do the needful by rejecting the pay, we will be forced to conclude that we Nigerians are just working and living for our political leaders and this will be too bad. If the Presidency was not privy to this scandalous severance benefits, it must publicly distance itself from the ill-advised benefits and reject the offer immediately,” the workers said in a statement on Wednesday.

In the statement issued by the association’s President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and the Secretary General, Alade Lawal, the association said the allowance was an indication of “financial recklessness”, adding that it is a source of worry that despite the outcry by the public over government’s financial recklessness, the presidency could still go ahead to approve the said amount as terminal benefits.

The ASCSN said: “This is a sacrilege and unacceptable in an economy where civil servants who serve the country for 35 years or attain the age of 60 years are not paid any gratuity after service. We demand that all stakeholders in the Nigerian project stand up now and oppose this financial recklessness.”

The association further called on the incoming government to ensure that the money is returned to public treasury if President Jonathan and others go ahead to collect the money.

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