Workers are protesting alleged maltreatment by the management of Adama Beverages Ltd, a Yola-based company owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The workers, in mass, bear green leaves and placards, asking that the Indians managing the company should quit on Tuesday.
“Only Nigerians we need”,
“Hadi Must Go.”, The workers said.
Hadi is the name of a Nigerian management staff of the company said to be in cohort with Indians who run the company to malign the workers on the lower cadres.
The lower carder workers who are Nigerians told newsmen that the Indians who are the top managers call the Nigerians monkeys and generally treat them with disdain.
Adama Beverages Ltd, which produces bottled water and fruit juices, distributes its products under the famous brand, FARO, across Adamawa State and much of the rest of the north.
The protests started on Monday when casual staff reported to work and were told to return home as production had stopped.
Shedding further light on the immediate cause of the workers’ protests, the Senior Staff Association of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (FOBTOB) of the company said management erred by not informing the casual workers ahead of time that they would not be needed for now.
Chairman of the association, Mr. Palke Jackson, said, “This is production off-season, so it could be expected that casual staff who do the production could be asked to stop work, just should have been informed accordingly on time rather than being suddenly asked to stop work.”
Jackson explained also that even permanent staff joined the workers’ protest because eleven of them were issued queries by Management on the accusation that the eleven were instrumental to unauthorised meetings.
