Anxiety has gripped Plateau lawmakers over bribery allegations against its Public Accounts and Petitions Committee which is investigating the protracted feud between workers and management of the Jos MTN call centre.
The committee is investigating activities of the Communications Network Support Services Limited (CNSSL) contracted by the MTN to operate the Jos Call centre.
The Speaker, Mr John Dabwan, who raised the issue on the floor of the House on Friday in Jos, said the bribery allegation had been brought to the House by striking workers of the company.
?“The workers embarked on a peaceful demonstration to the Assembly to register their disgust to this; they pointedly accused members of accepting bribe from CNSSL management to doctor their report.
?“When the workers came on a peaceful demonstration to the Assembly, their main grievance was the bribe said to have been given to the committee.
“We don’t know where they derive the power to make that allegation from, so we must insist that that they should come here and explain to us,'' he said.
The Speaker added that the workers made the statement publicly and should explain it in the open.
The House, nonetheless accepted the report from the committee as a working document of the Assembly and deferred discussions on it till the next two weeks.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some members, who reacted angrily to the allegation, had insisted that it must be tackled seriously as it had the potential to taint the image of the House and also affect the outcome of the investigation.
Assemblyman Doe Lamul, in his reaction, stated that the rumour was already in town that the committee members were bribed to censor the report in favour of CNSSL in disregard of the workers' plight.
Lamul said the issue of bribery and corruption, an issue at the National Assembly, was fast becoming a cankerworm in the country.
?“Now, it has come here. I want this report deferred until we thrash out the issue of bribery of members,” he said.
Majority Leader Gyang Fulani, who moved for adoption of the report as a document of the Assembly, declared that the House would not take the issue of bribery lightly.
“We will not take such rumours kindly. We must tackle the matter headlong.''
Earlier, while presenting the report of the committee on Employees/Employer relationship of CNSSL Contact Center in Jos, Chairman of the committee, Gondina Sambo, said that the issues bordered on a dispute over conditions of service between employees and management of CNSSL.
He listed issues in contention to include night allowance, healthcare, sports, formation of union and replacement of workers.
Others included tax payment, public holidays and sleeping condition.
In its nine-point recommendations to the Assembly; the committee pointed out that the face-off, if allowed to continue, could lead to the loss of lives.
The committee called for dialogue between the company and its union leaders to arrive at a peaceful resolution of the issues.
The committee also advised the company to pay its workers in Jos same salary as obtained in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano call centers, while staff on probation be paid same package as those in its Kwara call center.(NAN)