ICT stakeholders condemn sack of female married staff, Glo denies

By Constance Athekame
Abuja, March 20, 2018 (NAN) Some Information Technology Communication (ICT) stakeholders in Abuja have continued to react to the sack of 90 female staff, condemning the action by Globacom.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports there was there was a massive sack of staff by Globacom, especially married and pregnant women on March 9.

The stakeholders, who spoke with on Wednesday, said the sacking of the female staff was a sad development coming from a company like Globacom where women also contribute their earnings as subscribers.

Mr Tunde Ezichi, the Chief of Executive Officer, Sigma Beta–Alpha Ltd., an ICT company, told NAN that the sack was reprehensible.

Ezichi said he was shocked at what happened at Glo as he could not understand why women, especially the married women were treated that way.

“Actually, I am wondering what could have led to that decision. Is it because they found married women unproductive.
“When you consider the Information Technology Industry, the history of women in Information Communication Technology has been phenomenon.

“Women have been one of best programmers and they are married women as well, so I don’t understand the preference for single women,’’ he said.

Ezichi said the sack of the female staff was also a sign that the single women had been put on notice in Globacom, “that once you are married, you better just get out’’.

He said the sack was a sad thing now that the country was trying to ensure that more women were employed, adding “more over, women are also contributing there earnings to the company as subscribers’’.

“If you ask me, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) should not only be asking for minimum wage increase but should also take up these kind of issues,’’ he said.
Mrs Omowunmi Hassan, the Chief Executive Officer, High-Tech-Centre for Women and Youths said the sack of the married female by Globacom was a bad development and “leaves much to be desired’’.

She said for Glo to sack this gender just like that was a kind of regression now that the country was mobilising for more women to embrace Science, Technology and Mathematics (STEM).

“Many of the chief executives have daughters even if they are living abroad, they will get married one day.

“There is an urgent need for re-orientation on matters like this.

“Looking at it from the other side, it is high time women realise that there is a need to create their own jobs.

“But for me, I will encourage my sisters not to look at Glo as the end of life, but they should begin to look at other avenues of wealth creation,’’ he said.

NAN reports that on March 19, some women groups in Enugu State under the aegis of Coalition of Women for Justice protested the recent sack of married women by Globacom.

The women, wearing black, marched to Enugu Government House demanding action from Enugu State Government.

They held placards with inscriptions: “The Sack was Targeted at Married Women’’; “This is Clear Work-Place Discrimination’’, “Glo, Give Women Their Right’’; “We Demand Justice for Sacked Glo Women’’ and “Glo, is Marriage a Crime?’’.

After listening to the demands of the women, the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, who welcomed the protesting women to the Government House, called on the authorities to wade into the cause of the agitation.

Ezeilo said that the state government shared in the plight of the women; adding that Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, as a former member of the House of Representatives would assist further the cause of the women.

“The governor of the state is a women friendly governor. That is why he had delegated me to assure you that we share in your plight.

“As a former member of the House of Assembly, he will do everything to see that women are not unjustly treated,’’ she said.

Addressing journalists after the protest, some of the leaders of the women voiced their disgust at the treatment meted out to those married women and the gross gender insensitivity displayed by the company.

The President, Hope Givers Initiative, Mrs Onyeka Udegbunam, said that March 9, a day after the International Women’s Day, Globacom sacked all the married women working in its employ.

“Tell me a place where 82 per cent of married women were sacked and the other 18 per cent were demoted and 92 per cent of single ladies retained.

“We will not keep quiet and we want the press to speak up.

“The worst is that these disengaged workers were only paid one month salary and the only reason was that their services were no longer needed,’’ she said.

When NAN visited the Enugu office of Globacom Ltd., located along Okpara Avenue, the workers on duty declined to comment on the policy of sacking married women.

The workers advised NAN to make the clarification from the headquarters in Lagos.

Responding, a competent source of Globacom in Lagos, described as false the report that it sacked about 100 of its female workers because they were married.

The source, who did not want to be mentioned, told NAN in Lagos that the workers were sacked for low productivity, adding that men were also affected.

“It had nothing to do with gender or marital status; it had to do with low productivity.

“Some of those who were sacked are men whose positions have been filled by married women.

“There are still married women in the system and some have been here since the inception of the company,” the source said.
(NAN)
COA/SKA/IGY
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Edited by Grace Yussuf