Atiku: Gotel Reveals Why It Sacked Staff Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar‘s Gotel Communications Limited has revealed why it sacked scores of its staff when the nation is battling the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Naija News had earlier reported that over forty-staff of Gotel Communications were relieved of their duties by the organization.

The affected workers were handed their respective sack letters by the company, in a letter by its General Manager, Mohammed El Yakubu,

The letter reportedly read, “The management has decided to discontinue your services with immediate effect.“Consequently, please be informed that your entitlements including stipend in lieu of the notice will be computed and posted into your account with immediate effect.”

Reacting in a statement signed by Mohammed El-Yakub titled, ‘Rationalisation of staff in Gotel, outcome of long-standing company restructuring,’ Gotel said the sack was the outcome of a restructuring exercise, which started last year.

The Companies General Manager, however, dismissed reports that Atiku was behind the sack of Gotel staff.

The statement read: “The rationalisation of staff at Gotel Communications Limited, a company under the umbrella of Priam Group, is a culmination of the restructuring process in the companies under our Group.

“The founder of companies under the Priam had announced that many of his business concerns will be aggregated under the Priam Group. Priam Group had embarked on a restructuring exercise which led to a merger of many companies under its umbrella.

“Other components of the restructuring include rationalisation of the workforce and thus some members of staff of the group would be laid off, with their full disengagement benefits paid to them.”

El-Yakub maintained that it was out of context “to ascribe any mundane presupposition for being responsible for the decision to lay off some of the workforce in Gotel Communication Limited.

He added that after the unveiling of Priam Group last year, Atiku Abubakar ceased to be involved in the running of the affairs of his companies.