The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • MDAs to get productivity units

    The Buhari administration will establish Productivity Units in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige has said.

    He spoke in Abuja  when he opened a productivity awareness lecture for middle cadre (Grade levels 07 to 12) officers, who constitute the  target group that handle major functions in the ministry and in the public sector.

    Ngige said the awareness lecture was very important to his ministry because of its bearing on the success of the change mantra of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    He said the Federal Government has continued to invest heavily in reform programmes directed at transforming the public service to tackle head-on the various challenges that have threatened the nation’s survival.

    In his address, the Director-General, National Productivity Centre, Alhaji Kashim Yunusa Akor, noted that presentation of the lecture, which has been designed for all MDAs, was predicated on the need to sharpen the skills and competences of the human resources in the public service for improved productivity and efficient service delivery.

  • NUPENG condemns attack on Chevron platform

    NUPENG condemns attack on Chevron platform

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has condemned the blowing up of Chevron Valve Platform in Abiteye in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State.

    The union said the attack by militants was not in good taste.

    In a statement by the NUPENG General Secretary, Comrade Igwe Achese, the union appealed to the militants to sheath their swords and stop the destruction of oil installations and pipelines.

    Achese said the blow-up would cost the joint venture partners billions of naira as it will affect crude oil supplies and gas distribution to thermal stations.

    He called on the militants to desist from the act as it draws the economy back and affects the climate and lives of the citizens of the host community.

    “We urge the militants to stop the dastardly act as it affects the ecosystem through the destruction of aquaculture, farmlands, water, and river pollution arising from the spillage,” he said.

    It added that the Federal Government should intensify effort to set up the proposed pipelines protection agency as indicated by the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbanjo, who said the agency will be equipped with modern day technology to stem the tide of vandalism.

    The union reiterated that the security agencies must re-double their efforts 24/7 with equipment installed with night visions to put a stop to such surprise attacks on oil installations and pipelines.

  • Improve workers’ welfare, govt urged

    Improve workers’ welfare, govt urged

    Union leaders have urged the Federal Government to give priority to workers welfare.

    The unionists, who spoke with The Nation, noted that workers’ welfare was poor across the country.

    The President, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Alhaji Ibrahim Khaleel, urged the three tiers of government to take necessary measures to improve workers’ welfare.

    According to him, some state governments are owing workers 10 months’ salaries. “I urge government to step in and address our immediate problem, which is the inability of government to pay workers’ salaries as and  when due,” he said, noting that government has failed in the payment of workers’ salaries, particularly the local governments.

    Describing it as a serious challenge, Khaleel said the president needed to make good the promise he made when he was sworn in last year. “I recall he promised to address issues in the local governments to make them more functional,” he said.

    He urged workers to seek effective ways of ensuring service delivery across the county to create more wealth.

    The Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), FCT chapter, Mr.  Amaechi Lawrence, decried the high cost of living in the territory and urged the FCT Minister to look into it and provide more affordable houses for civil and public servants.

    He also urged the government to build more roads to reduce the traffic on the Nyanya-Mararaba Road.

    The Chairman, Nigeria Automobile Technicians Association (NATA), Mr. John Gabriel, said government should look into the issue of fuel scarcity and put an end to it.

    “We want Nigeria to be a better place; there is also no fuel intermittently; so the prices of things are jacked up, even the cost of maintaining one’s car becomes higher.

    “For this reason, many people park their cars at home, leaving our members with no job and no money to take home for our families,’’ Gabriel said.

    The Chairman, National Union of Hotels and Personal Service Workers, Mr Jankat Pius, urged the Federal Government to immediately start implementing the 2016 budget, noting that the late-passage of the budget is already affecting Nigerians negatively.

    “There is no money in circulation and everything is hard in the country; I know good things don’t come easy but I believe government can do something to make the life of the people better,’’ Pius said.

  • NDE empowers 430 after skills training in Niger

    NDE empowers 430 after skills training in Niger

    Four hundred and thirty persons, who received skills training have been empowered by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

    NDE Acting Director-General, Mr. Kunle Obayan made this known at the resettlement of graduates of the Vocational Skills Development (VSD) programme in Minna, the Niger State capital.

    He said the disbursement was in line with the plan to create mass employment for unskilled and unemployed Nigerians by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

    Obayan said the desire of the NDE had always been to empower beneficiaries of its skills training programmes. He, however, lamented that this had been limited by the funds available to the directorate each year.

    He advised unskilled and unemployed young Nigerians to take advantage of the various programmes of the NDE to exit joblessness, assuring that the directorate would not relent in its efforts to assist young Nigerians to access decent jobs.

    The Director-General, New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD), Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar, said the empowerment of over 400 persons across the nation by the NDE was a step towards addressing the developmental challenge the nation was facing.

    He called on the beneficiaries to use what was given to them judiciously and urged the youth to discover their potentials.

    Abubakar said the state government is encouraging youths to go into business ventures as government alone could not provide jobs for all the unemployed youths in the state. He said the state government would roll out its programme for youth empowerment soon.

    The beneficiaries were given equipment for welding, electrical engineering, beads making, shoe making, fridge repair works, among others

  • Labour warns against workers’ sack over ‘bloated’ wage bill

    Labour has warned against the sacking of workers under the guise of a bloated wage bill.

    Refering to Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun’s statement that about N165 billion has been spent on payment of civil servants’ salaries, Labour said it was shocked by the excuses being made to justify the failure of some states to pay workers and execute certain projects.

    Speaking with The Nation, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, said they were all a ploy to sack workers.

    He said: “We recall that it was widely reported that the immediate past administration discovered hundreds of thousands of ghost workers within the civil service.

    “The present administration has also told us that they have discovered some and adopted a series of measures to curb such. We are upset that the available information technology platforms and the Biometrics Verification Number (BVN) introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have not helped to iron out these things.”

    The TUC president said labour was happy that the minister faulted the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) introduced by the last administration, adding that the system was sabotaged by elements benefitting from salary fraud.

    “We also welcome her claim that she has created a unit assigned with the sole responsibility of checking the salaries and catching those behind the over-bloated salary,” he said.

    He, however, said Labour would fight to finish any attempt to sack civil servants for errors that are not theirs, adding that it is the height of injustice to sack a worker who earns a stipend just to be able to sustain the payment of millions of naira to politicians.

    “We cannot be made to bear the brunt of what we do not know about just to massage the ego and pockets of a privileged few. Nobody or group should prompt a disruption of the prevailing peaceful industrial atmosphere in the country,” Kaigama said.

    In a related event, TUC has decried the recruitment of Permanent Secretaries from outside the civil service.

    Kaigama, who stated this in Abuja, said: “We wish to state that the recent appointment of Permanent Secretaries from outside the civil service contravened the relevant provisions of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    “This is capable of doing collateral damage to the system. The ill-advised policy, if not stopped now, is capable of killing the morale of senior civil servants who have served their fatherland meritoriously for decades. This is because they can no longer aspire to rise to the peak of their career.”

    Kaigama urged the Federal Government to discontinue the practice while those already recruited particularly those above 60 years, should be disengaged.

    He said it was common knowledge that the civil service is the engine room that oils the wheels of government to ensure efficient and effective service delivery to the people.

    Kaigama cited Public Service Rule 020810, which stipulates that retirement age in the civil service shall be 60 years of age or 35 years of pensionable service whichever comes earlier.

    He also called on the Federal Government to quickly settle all outstanding arrears owed civil and public servants.

    According to him, the outstanding include salary arrears, promotion arrears dating back to 2007, first 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation, duty tour allowance, mandatory training allowance for 2010, burial expenses and repatriation allowance, among others.

    “We are worried that the sum provided for the settlement of these arrears under the Service Wide Vote in the 2016 Budget is inadequate and has even been slashed by N28.5 billion by the National Assembly.

    “We, therefore, demand that the federal lawmakers retrace their steps on this issue and approve what was voted for the outstanding benefits of civil servants in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in the country.

    He also called on the Federal Government to prepare a supplementary budget to capture the balance of indebtedness to public servants so that the matter can rested.

  • TUC to ICPC, EFCC: expose states that mismanaged bailout funds 

    TUC to ICPC, EFCC: expose states that mismanaged bailout funds 

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has called on the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intensify their investigations into how states utilised the bailout funds. Twenty-three states got the fund last year to offset workers’salaries, allowances and retirees’ pension.

    In a statement by its President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, TUC lamented what he called the uncontrolled greed and quest for materialism by some governors and politicians.

    The attitude, it said, was worrisome, especially at a time of economic crunch and owing of workers’ salaries.

    ”The Congress is unimpressed by the porous explanations in the national dailies by some governors and their commissioners for information on how the monies were spent. As a labour centre we get first-hand information from our members in all the states of the federation.

    “We, therefore, know that some state governments are being economical with the truth when they make statements purporting that they have settled all their indebtedness to their workers. Even where a particular state government pays some of the outstanding entitlements, does that automatically translate to a liquidation of the entire debt?” Kaigama asked, noting that officers of the ICPC and EFCC should beware of the mischievous posturing in bank transfer documents presented by the states.

    The TUC president said it was inexcusable for any governor to neglect the payment of workers and divert the funds. He said weighing such actions against the backdrop of the recent happenings in the Senate raised serious concern about some politicians’ integrity.

    Endorsing the actions of the ICPC and EFCC, the Congress said the commissions should not give room to intimidations by any individual or group, who might want to upturn the course of  justice.

    ”We know that corrupt politicians will want to employ all antics to oppose the work of both commissions; all stolen wealth must be recovered. And any state that fails to make prompt payment of salaries and pensions will definitely face the wrath of Nigerian workers,” Kaigama said.

    He said as a labour centre, the fight against corruption and its effects on the growth and development of the nation is of very special interest to labour and all Nigerians.

    He added that the success of the crusade is the insurance that most Nigerians have to decent living, and the guarantee that the nation will stand strong and take its place among the leading nations of the world. Kaigama said the upsurge of corruption in Nigeria in recent times is particularly disturbing.

    “Indeed, statistics reveal that Nigeria is 163rd out of 172 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, with its yearly corruption level in recent years averaging $5 billion.  It has done unquantifiable damage to the national life.

    “For instance, the menace of corruption leads to slow movement of files in offices, fuels police extortion, accentuates traffic jams, port congestion, queues at passport offices and petrol stations, ghost-workers syndrome, election irregularities, inflation of budgets and contract fees,” he said.

    Kaigama noted that corruption pervades most establishments in Nigeria, private or public. He said apart from the political class, the justice system is another culprit.  “As a result of corruption, justice is perverted and judgment is often delivered in favour of the guilty that are able to pay their way through,” he said.

  • Workers hail N56,000 minimum wage proposal

    Workers hail N56,000 minimum wage proposal

    Civil servants in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have praised the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for pushing for N56,000 as minimum wage. Some of the workers, who spoke in an interview with The Nation during the May Day celebrations, said the review of the N18,000 minimum wage was over due.

    According to them, the proposed minimum wage will go a long way in cushioning workers’ hardship. They lamented the high cost of goods, stressing that the proposed minimum wage would encourage them to put in their best.

    The workers said labour had taken a bold step aimed at giving them some relief. They appealed to the government to consider the workers’plight as regards the prevailing economic reality.

    Mr. Mojeed Mohammed, a civil servant in FCT, described the proposal as good.

    He, however, expressed fear over the government’s ability to meet the demand because of the dwindling oil revenue.

    A union executive, Comrade Bala Abubakar, lauded NLC and TUC for the proposal. He said Labour needed to back it up in the interest of the workers.

    A civil servant in Alausa, Ikeja, Mr. Olayinka Ogunfesi, said if the proposed N56,000 wage is approved, it would go a long way in alleviating workers’ suffering.

    He enjoined the union executives to ensure that it is implemented. To Mrs. Bimpe Olatunji, a teacher, the proposal is in order. She said this is something that will make the workers put in their best.“Depending on whether the government accepts and implements it, it is alright,” she said.

  • 40,000 apply for BoI’s 10,000 ‘YES’ scheme

    40,000 apply for BoI’s 10,000 ‘YES’ scheme

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) received 40,000 applications  for its 10,000 Youth Entrepreneurship Support Programme (YES-Programme), Industry, Trade and Investment Minister Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah has said. The applications exceeded the 10,000 target by 300 per cent.

    BoI introduced the YES-Programme with N10 billion last March as part of the Federal Government’s job and wealth creation programmes aimed at addressing unemployment.

    Enelamah, who spoke at a forum in Lagos, said the development showed the youth’s desire to work.

    He said the Federal Government might have found the panacea to  youth unemployment. The minister assured youths of the government’s commitment to its financial inclusion programme, promising that it would assist BoI to  implement the YES-Programme.

    BoI Acting Managing Director Mr. Waheed Olagunju said the bank realised that youths have demonstrated their desire to contribute to economic development. He said the bank received 13,272 online applications as at April 1, 2016 – two weeks after the scheme was launched – which is in excess of the 10,000 applications that were projected to be filed in six weeks.

    He said the geo-political analysis of the applicants was an indication of the wide acceptance of YES among youths. Olagunju noted that the Northeast is leading with 1,300 applicants, followed by Southwest with 1,150 and North Central with 663.

    According to him, considering the enthusiastic response to the scheme, the bank and its 11 partnering enterprise development institutions are taking proactive steps to increase the number of applicants that would attend the five-day capacity building sessions at eight centres in the six geo-political zones.

    He added that the fund size would also be increased to meet the increasing number of applicants that could potentially be transformed into successful entrepreneurs in the required critical mass and ultimately employers of labour.

  • Dwindling allocation hampers SMEDAN’s performance, says DG

    Dwindling allocation hampers SMEDAN’s performance, says DG

    The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Dr. Umaru Dikko Radda, has said dwindling statutory allocations have affected the agency’s capacity to reach out to the Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs).

    Radda spoke in Kaduna at the strategic management retreat for the agency’s senior officers.

    He said statistics showed that Nigerian and New Zealand SMEs contribute the highest to employment. Nigerian SMEs, he said, had the lowest contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while Brazilian SMEs have the highest contribution to GDP because their agency is well funded.

    Radda said: “While our counterpart in Brazil gets $1.8 billion subvention yearly, SMEDAN’s allocations in 2014 and 2015 were $20.1 million. While our counterpart in the United States (US) oversees 20 million SMEs, SMEDAN oversees about 37 million MSMEs.

    “Ironically, our US counterpart’s subvention in 2016 is $701.3 million, which is more than the budget of SMEDAN since inception in 2003. Radda, therefore, stressed that basically the retreat was, among others, to provide a platform for the review of the agency’s operations and strategically chart the way forward.

    ”The retreat is further aimed at aligning the operations of the agency to the fundamental goal of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, which is revamping the productive and service sectors of the economy with a view to diversification from the oil sector and creating mass job opportunities,” he explained.

    Earlier in her speech to declare the retreat open, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, expressed satisfaction with Radda’s effort at re-positioning the agency.

    She assured that the special needs of MSMEs would need to be attended to enable new and existing businesses thrive and provide job opportunities for over 70 million youths.

  • NLC to build 3,050 houses for workers

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Sokoto State  will build 3,050 housing units for civil servants, its Chairman, Mr. Aminu Umar has said.

    Umar, represented by his Deputy, Mr. Abubakar Malami, at the May Day celebrations, said the houses would be built “in partnership with some private estate developers”.

    So far, about 100 hectares of land had been acquired by the NLC for the houses, including other facilities, such as clinic, mini-market and schools, among others.

    ”Therefore, I will like to solicit for your continued cooperation in order to help us achieve the set goals of improving the welfare of workers,” Umar urged.

    He praised the state government for ensuring the regular payment of salary and the payment of arrears of gratuities to retired civil servants.

    He extolled the cordial relationship between labour unions and the state government.

    Umar acknowledged the state government’s commitment to improving the lot of civil servants in the state.

    He, however, appealed to the state government to look into the plight of retired teachers and workers of local governments, as well as salary disparity between secondary and primary school teachers.

    Umar further urged the state to implement consolidated salary for legislative staff, as well as introduce a special media salary scale, among other demands.