Day controversial protest rocked Film Corporation

The tenure of Engr. Danjuma Dadu as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), has become synonymous with protests, the first of which came with his appointment in 2013, because stakeholders in the film industry felt he lacked the experienced. But none of the protests in the series against Engr. Dadu came under […]

The tenure of Engr. Danjuma Dadu as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), has become synonymous with protests, the first of which came with his appointment in 2013, because stakeholders in the film industry felt he lacked the experienced.
But none of the protests in the series against Engr. Dadu came under more controversial circumstances thatn the one held last week at the corporation’s complex in the Plateau State capital, Jos. Workers at the corporation stormed out with placards against the chief executive, protesting the absence of promotion in seven straight years.
But the protest was held while promotion examinations were scheduled with the protest leaders as candidates in the exercise. This was on Tuesday evening.
The protest by the Radio Television Theatre and Art Workers’ Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU) was supposed to be spontaneous, but the appearance of placards suggested a pre-planned event. The workers stormed out by evening, after it was clear to them that the promotion examination they had appeared for, was not going to hold on that day as planned.
Their placards, whose inscriptions expressed anger with the absence of staff promotion for seven years, but none spoke about the problem of the day, which was the rescheduling of the examination by one day, after it failed to hold on the planned day of Tuesday.
Some of the placards read: “Pay Us All Our Allowance,” “Dadu Has Killed NFC,” “Seven Years, No Promotion,” “This Slavery Must Stop,” “FG Help Us,” “Dadu Must Go,” and so on.
The workers chanted anti-Dadu slogans, and poured into the street from the complex located close to the British America Junction along Bauchi Bye-Pass.
Mrs. Augusta Isaac, chairperson of RATTAWU unit at the corporation confirmed that staff of the corporation poured out with placards in a protest at the corporation, when she spoke to Daily Trust but she declined to give details, insisting that as a fallout, the union has been “dialoguing with the management.”
Engr. Dadu was not available for comment, but Mr. Brian Etuk, Head, Special Duties, told Daily Trust that the protest surprised the management because it appeared as though it was pre-planned, and not spontaneous owing to the delay in commencing the examination.
“The workers including the officials of the union, came for the examination, and waited all the while, for the commencement. But we were waiting for the representatives of our mother ministry, who were on their way, but had some delays. So, out of impatience, the workers began to protest when it appeared to them that we planned shifting the exercise to Wednesday,” Mr. Etu said.
He said Engr. Dadu inherited the promotion crisis in 2013, but had been on the case since his appointment to get the approval from both the board, and the Federal Ministry of Information, and only got the approval a month ago.
“The board approved of the promotion after a report was made by a committee last year. But the dissolution of the board last year, stalled the process because it is supposed to be represented at the promotion examination,” he said, adding “but approval did come from the ministry, nevertheless, for us to carry out the exercise.”