Forty-six staff of Gotel Communications, a media outfit owned by Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, have been sacked by the organization
Forty-six staff of Gotel Communications, a media outfit owned by Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, have been sacked by the organization, according to SaharaReporters.
Gotel Communication is a television and radio broadcast service that transmits from Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
The affected staff were handed their respective sack letters on Friday, being Workers Day. It was signed by the General Manager, Mohammed El-Yakub.
A copy of the sack letter reads in parts, “The management has decided to discontinue your services with immediate effect. Consequently, please be informed that your entitlements including stipend lieu of the notice will be computed and posted into your account with immediate effect.”
No reason was given for their sack.
Recall that some expatriate workers had earlier accused Gotel of breaching the terms of their contracts and failing to pay them several months of salaries and entitlements. The expatriates threatened to sue the company for breaching their contract terms.
Gotel Communications had in 2016 carried out a mass retrenchment after which it placed others on renewable contracts. Today, more staff were let go. The sacked workers, who are mostly contract staffers who were in the middle of executing the five-year contract when the management decided to shift the post in the middle of the game.
This action may not be unconnected to the former vice president merging all of his businesses. Last year, he had merged all his businesses into a single group known as Priam Group.
He explained that Priam Group would bring all his investments under one brand and one common management. Priam Group was expected to take over assets and liabilities of the existing companies including staff emoluments and other welfare.
Meanwhile, the source said since the merger, which included Gotel Communications, some Indians were brought in to take over the management.
