The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • NUPENG seeks govt policy on kerosene

    NUPENG seeks govt policy on kerosene

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has urged the Federal Government to unveil its policy on kerosene.

    NUPENG Southwest Chairman,  Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, who made the appeal in an interview with the The Nation in Lagos, said the product has become unaffordable.

    He said while the government deregulated diesel and petrol, there was no clear policy on kerosene. This has led to the high cost of the product – a litre sells for as high as N240 at most filling stations.

    Korodo noted that many filling stations, especially the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Stations in Lagos, did not have the product, forcing the masses to buy from independent marketers

    “Kerosene has not been deregulated, according to the Federal Government policy on the product.

    “Part of the excuse given to us is  the hostility in the Niger Delta, which reduces the quantity of the products given to refineries.”

    “The increase in the price of kerosene has also triggered up price of gas which is now between N4,000 and N4,300.

    “Kerosene is the only product that is accessible to rural and urban women and government needs to explain to us why the product is more expensive than diesel and petrol now.

    “For kerosene to be sold for more than N200 at pump price is uncalled for and the government should look inward and address it urgently,’’ he said.

    The Federal Government on January 19, increased the pump price of kerosene from N50 per litre to N83 per litre.

  • Minister harps on youth empowerment

    Minister harps on youth empowerment

    Minister of Youth and Sports Mr Solomon Dalung has said proper coordination of youth development activities is important for rapid job creation.

    He said the ministry has developed a strategy to harmonise youth activities in other ministries and agencies.

    Dalung stated these during a dinner and peace awards to commemorate the 18th  anniversary of the Peace Corps of Nigeria in Abuja.

    He said the Corps had remained relevant on youth empowerment, especially at the grassroots, and deserved encouragement from  Nigerians.

    The National Commandant, Dickson Akoh, said the organisation had operated on volunteerism and urged the  government to use the platform for meaningful youth engagement and empowerment.

    Thirty-two Nigerians received awards for their contributions to peace advocacy and conflict resolution in the country.

    The corps has over 100,000 members in the country.

  • Pay sacked Owena Motel workers, Labour tells Mimiko

    Labour has urged the Ondo State government to settle the outstanding entitlements of 187 workers of the Owena Motel, who lost their jobs, following the motel’s closure, two years ago.

    The Hotel and Personal Service Senior Staff Association (HAPSSSA) said the July 2014  closure of the hotel has been devastating as  many of the workers have died.

    “Some are in bad health conditions now; their children are out of schools while the remaining few are surviving on family and friends’ goodwill,” the union said.

    The National President,  Adeyemi Ademola, said the hotel’s closure was done verbally, without the workers being given letters of disengagement and due process.

    “To clean the stain this might cause, we advise Governor Olusegun Mimiko to address all the issues raised without delay. It should be clear that the salaries and other benefits of the workers are still accruing since their appointments were not legally terminated and we challenged him to show the contrary. Posterity is waiting by the corner, as it is never too late.

    ”What is the fate of more than 187 people employed in the hotel  who are laid-off without letters of disengagement? Is the government not compounding and increasing unemployment in the state?

    “Our findings revealed that the State Governor has sold the hotel at a mouth-watering amount to an investor for the construction of a  Shopping Mall. We considered it as a waste of public asset and destruction of heritage of the people built by founding fathers in order to provide employment for the upcoming generation,” he said.

    Ademola, who hailed the first governor of the state, Chief Adekunle Ajasin for building the hotel, said workers were locked out when the government was owing them 19 months’salary.

    The government had also failed to comply with the payment of pension, making it difficult for the workers to access any pension.

    He added that the government had failed to pay the retirement benefits and gratuity of the workers.

  • SMEDAN: 96% of SMEs are micro

    SMEDAN: 96% of SMEs are micro

    Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) Director-General, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, has said 96 per cent of Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country are micro.

    He said the agency was making efforts to formalise them to access funds.

    Radda spoke while receiving Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong in his office.

    Radda said SMEDAN was well positioned to assist states in developing and promoting MSMEs, given the role of the sector in wealth creation and poverty alleviation.

    He noted that the agency was being repositioned to meet the challenges of the present times, adding that the visit of the Plateau State chief executive to the agency was not only apt, but encouraging.

    Radda said SMEDAN would assist the state in business development services and entrepreneurship training.

    Lalong said SMEDAN was key to actualising one of his agenda for youth and women, hence, the establishment of the state MSME agency.

    He said he was at the agency to introduce the head of the Plateau State Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, Mr Haggai Gutap, to SMEDAN so both agencies could synergise on how to develop MSMEs.

  • ‘Knowledge acquisition panacea to entrepreneurial failures’

    Knowledge acquisition, not finance, is the panacea to problems bedevilling entrepreneurs.

    This was the view of  stakeholders at the first edition of the Youth Entrepreneurship Summit (YES), organised by Palm3 Strategy, in Lagos.

    The  theme was “Nigeria beyond oil: Advancing SMMEs development through entrepreneurship social media”.

    The consensus of participants  was that acquisition of the right knowledge will go a long way in ensuring the success of young entrepreneurs.

    The Acting Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Waheed Olagunju, said though most entrepreneurs complained of lack of finance in starting up, investigations revealed that most start-ups do not have the requisite knowledge to manage their businesses.

    He said BoI would tackle youth unemployment through various grants –  Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) grant to young graduates and Graduate Entrepreneurship Funds (GEF) for youth corps members – to assist youths with good business ideas to start their business.

    Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Chief Executive Officer Mr Olusegun Awolowo said the agency has various initiatives to assist young entrepreneurs to key into government policies on exportation. He, however, regretted that lack of information about the activities of NEPC explained why many Nigerian products were not being exported.

    Olam Nigeria Vice President, Ade Adefeko, said for Nigeria to diversify beyond oil, the nexus between agriculture and technology, with the  active participation of the youth, should be pursued as that would promote agriculture.

    Similarly, the Managing Director, Palm3 Strategy, Mr Ndiana Mattew, said YES was borne out of lack of mentorship for budding entrepreneurs without connections or a formal business school, a level playing field on market entry, obstacles to finance and lack of knowledge/skill or its accessibility by the average the youth.

  • Nigeria to get technical support from ILO

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is to provide Nigeria with technical support in training factory inspectors and other professionals in the Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure the attainment of decent work and sustainable development.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, made this known during a meeting with the Director-General, ILO, Moussaka Oumarou.

    Ngige also told Oumarou that Nigeria was planning to revive the Labour Advisory, which has been dormant for over five years, to ensure industrial harmony.

    He pointed out that the government would also strengthen the child labour law and carry out sensitisation

    The country, he said, would need lots of technical assistance available at the ILO to do that.

    Other areas where the country needs technical assistance from the ILO, Ngige said, include capacity building to strengthen the National Industrial Court (NIC) and strengthen labour laws in the country.

    Ngige said of the five labour bills before the National Assembly, only one had been passed into law, while the other four were obsolete and required re-working to make them in tune with modern realities.

    He said the bills before the National Assembly were drafted with the assistance of the ILO with only the Employees Compensation Scheme sailing through legislation successfully.

    In response, Oumarou stressed the need to lay more emphasis on “train the trainers”.

    He assured that the ILO will do its best to assist Nigeria get back factory inspectors and assist in other areas of need put forward by the Nigerian delegation.

    He said ILO will also assist the country with experts in labour laws to help in the review and easy passage of labour laws.

  • Senate seeks peaceful resolution of labour, banks’ feud

    Senate seeks peaceful resolution of labour, banks’ feud

    •Ngige: unionism is every worker’s right

    The National Assembly has called for peaceful resolution of the disagreement between labour and banks over retrenchment.

    It also praised the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, for his intervention in the matter.

    The NASS agreed with  the minister on dialoguing with all social partners to resolve the disagreement peacefully.

    At a public hearing on the emerging issues in the financial sector, Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, said: “We sincerely commend the Federal Government for being willing to work with the banks to find a common solution to this issue of retrenchment, which affects almost every family in Nigeria.

    “I am grateful that all of us have  agreed to dialogue and I implore you to do justice to all issues before the stakeholders’ summit coming up. I, therefore, appeal to everybody to be humble and be open in our different positions at the talks.”

    Ibrahim said the NASS was happy with the explanation by Ngige that he did not threaten that the Federal Government would withdraw licences from banks that continue to retrench workers; that it was a case of misrepresentation.

    According to Ibrahim, Ngige’s explanation made room for a convivial atmosphere for social partners to dialogue and peacefully resolve all issues.

    Ngige said steps taken by him on the issue were in defence of the Constitution, the labour laws and to safeguard the interests of parties, ensure peaceful industrial milieu for enhanced productivity in the sector.

    “The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution is aware that we are in a society where all of us will not be equal and that everybody must be protected – big and small. That is why in Sections 14, 15 and 16 and even 17, the Constitution protects the employer, the economy and the workers,” he said.

    Ngige said it was from these provisions that the NASS enacted the labour laws on how to deal with issues of employment. ”So, all that my ministry has done is to execute and protect these laws from infractions. I acted in good faith to protect the interest of all,” he said.

    He cited petitions from unions in the financial sector, which border on unwholesome practices, the height of which was mindless retrenchment as the reason for his intervention.

    He directed the parties – the bank employers and the unions – to maintain the status quo ante-bellum through a press release on June 5, 2016, pending the resolution of the disputes.

    “We intervened in the spirit of collective bargaining. We got petitions from National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions employees (NUBIFE) on casualisation, contract staffing, poor remunerations, which are not in conformity with equal work, equal pay in our constitution, as well as ill-human conditions of service,” he explained.

    Ngige added that the ministry also received petitions on sacks without due compensation and resistant to unionisation contrary to Section 40 of the Constitution, which the ministry investigated and found them true in some banks.

    “We invited the concerned banks; they gave excuses on why they won’t honour the invitation while they continued with retrenchments. I know my rights as Minister of Labour and I will exercise those rights for the benefits of Nigerians, high and low. It is within my power to declare a truce in any industrial crisis. That was why I asked the banks don’t retrench further and the unions; don’t picket the banks so we can sit down to resolve the issues,” he said.

    According to Ngige, the labour law on redundancy says in Article 20 that if an employer negotiates redundancy and a party is dissatisfied, the Minister has the right to intervene.

    He said the law provides for the employer to disengage a worker if he cannot actually run his enterprise efficiently and effectively with a large number of staff, in which case, he will declare redundancy. It states clearly the process for doing this.

    “It says you must engage the labour unions in that industry and if it gets out of hand, the local unions will report to their national union. If they can’t resolve this, the parties, unions or the banks will refer it to the Minister of Labour for conciliation,” he said.

    The Minister corrected the impression that the Federal Government was interfering in the running of private businesses.

    Speaking on unionisation in the banks, the Minister added that the only institution in the financial sector where staff members are exempted from unionisation is the Central Bank and that no other bank in the country had the right to prevent its staff from forming a union.

    “Unionisation, according to the constitution and labour laws, is the right of workers. There are exemptions and the institutions that are exempted are clearly listed. Here, it is only Central Bank that is exempted in the banking sector.

    “And the law says again that the Minister of Labour in his wisdom can grant a waiver to any institution. I have not granted waver to any bank and I will not grant such,” Ngige added.

  • Probe TCN, group urges Fed Govt

    Probe TCN, group urges Fed Govt

    The Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) has urged the Federal Government to probe the poor management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) under Manitoba Hydro International Nigeria Limited (MHINL).

    SSAEAC President Chris Okonkwo said there has not been any improvement in power since MHINL took charge four years ago, stating that corruption and politicisation of the power sector have compounded the operational processes of TCN.

    “A look at the calibre and number of staff of MHINL evokes crass disdain for the quality of Nigerian professionals in TCN, who are subjected to  men and women who are mediocre in the core business of TCN and who use Nigerians to do the little that is recorded as success of the contract, with outrageously high fees paid to the MHINL for little or no work done,” he said.

    Describing the contract as political, Okonkwo alleged that from inception till date, Manitoba exploited the weakness in the system.

    “They (Manitoba) are morally and ethically bankrupt and should be investigated if the current war against corruption will have a meaning,” he alleged.

    He warned the Federal Government against another extension being pushed for by MHINL, saying it would lead to industrial action by workers.

    He said it was necessary for the government to look inwards by sourcing local contractors and professionals in the sector.

    Okonkwo also lamented that most of the firms who made a bid for stakes in the sector were insincere about their ability to inject funds into the sector.

    “When will the government open its eyes to see that the investors today are not real investors?” he asked.

    He argued that the investors, who should have brought in investment and engaged technical partners, turned out to be hiring them temporarily for the bidding purpose. This, he said, was why the so-called investors are left to do a business they knew nothing about.

  • NDE to create decent jobs for Nigerians

    NDE to create decent jobs for Nigerians

    Director General, National Directorate of Employment, Kunle Obayan has said the agency is already taking advantage of the decent work agenda of the ILO to create jobs for Nigerians.

    Obanya who attended the recently concluded International Labour Conference in Geneva told The Nation that the decent work agenda which was the theme for ILO conference fits perfectly into the mandate of the mandate of the agency.

    He said the primary purpose of establishing the agency was to create jobs and impact skill on Nigerians, teaching them how to create decent jobs that will give them decent wage and be in a position to pay others decent wage.

    Obanya said: “As you know, NDE is the apex agency saddled with the task of creating employment through skill acquisition, job creation and employment generation. NDE has a lot of skills and programmes set up for this purpose. Currently, we have a lot of skills that we generate.

    “We have vocational skills training for a host of unemployed people such as youths and graduates who are currently undergoing training in our 84 skill acquisition programmes across the country.

    “We also have the graduate coaching scheme that will employ graduates in education. We also have a scheme for students who failed the school certificate examination. The scheme is created to salvage our investment in them in education.

    “We also have the community based training scheme where we go into the communities to train the various rural people who are not necessarily educated, but are there languishing.

    “We will bring them up, find out their skill set where they have comparative advantage and train and empower them in other to create micro enterprise in that direction. We also have the commercial farmers project where we go to the rural areas for them to set ill commercial farms in area of poultry, crop production among others.

    We have a partnership with CBN and we will cue into the various programmes of the CBN like the anchor borrower programme for production of rice and its value chain, poultry and its value chain all over the country.

    “We have a lot of schemes that will key into this ILO decent work agenda as well as the promises of the government to the people. We are there as NDE to generate employment through our various schemes. They are numerous and it is a matter of the people taking advantage of these scheme which are there in all the states of the federation.

    “Creating decent jobs is about creating jobs that will be able to give them a living wage. The trust of NDE is to train people in skill sets that will make them create businesses of their own and be able to employ labour.

    “We are making them create businesses by evaluating the kind of proposals they are presenting such that if will be sustainable and be able to make living wage and be able to pay people to work for them.

    “That is the way they will get decent jobs. The aspect if safety is about adhering to safety standard that is already put in place by the Federal Ministry of Labour.  We will make sure that they have sustainable jobs created through viable businesses”.

  • Govt ‘ll eliminate child labour, says Ngige

    Govt ‘ll eliminate child labour, says Ngige

    The Federal Government has vowed to eliminate child labour. The Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige, said the Buhari administration has renewed its commitment to promoting internationally recognised Child Labour Rights.

    At an event marking the World Day Against Child Labour, Ngige said: “I want to use this opportunity to express and renew our commitment to promoting internationally recognised Child Labour Rights, Conventions and Protocols adopted and ratified for the elimination of child labour, enforcement of minimum age at work and promotion of the African Charter on Rights of the Child.”

    He described child labour as a socio-economic challenge affecting not only Nigeria and Africa, but also the world.

    He called on stakeholders to join the government in mobilising support for the ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions No.138 on Minimum Age for Employment, and No. 182 on Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, including the implementation of National Policy on Child Labour, National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour in Nigeria and List of Hazardous Child Labour in Nigeria.

    Earlier in his remarks, the Country Director of ILO, Mr. Dennis Zulu, represented by Mrs. Agatha Kolawole, stated that ILO through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour will continue to support the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria with increased focus on policy support and technical advisory services.

    She called for renewed commitment of stakeholders in the supply chain, saying the implementation of the National Plan of Action against Child Labour must be strengthened to ensure the elimination of child labour and the protection of vulnerable children in Nigeria.