The management of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has sacked no fewer than 83 workers of the company in Asaba, Delta state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the affected workers, whose salary grade ranged from levels three to six, got their sack letters on Thursday.
The development threw the entire staff of the agency into mourning as some wailed while others wore long faces.
Some of the workers told NAN that the letters came as a surprise to them, claiming that they thought that the issue would remain a proposal or rumour.
"We heard that they were planning to retrench some of us but we thought it was still being proposed.
"Besides, we are aware that our colleagues at the headquarters in Abuja, had put up a protest against the proposal and were working hard to stop it," one of the sacked workers who pleaded anonymity, said.
He described the sacking of workers by the company's management as "callous", saying that it was carried out at a time when families were preparing to pay school fees for their children.
A source in the office told NAN that the sack letters were sent from Abuja to Asaba on Tuesday, saying that distribution of the letters was delayed till Thursday, "because it was a difficult thing to do".
NAN recalls that the management of the NIMC had early this week, announced its intention to disengage more than 4,000 workers nationwide, citing "redundancy" as the reason for the downsizing exercise. (NAN)
Vanguard Nigeria