The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • NECA urges Nigerians to brace for more hardship

    NECA urges Nigerians to brace for more hardship

    The Director-General (DG), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, has urged Nigerians to brace for more economic challenges, adding that the challenges should be seen as a  sacrifice to move the nation forward.

    Oshinowo, who spoke in Lagos, said the current situation required sacrifices. He said the falling oil prices was not a good omen for the country, noting that it will lead to inflation.

    He, however, said government ought to explain the implications of the fall in oil prices to Nigerians and how it hopes to mitigate its negative impacts. The country, he warned, is prone to serious economic crisis if there are no concrete plans to deal with the situation.

    He said the Federal Government should not return to the regime of paying fuel subsidies to petroleum marketers, saying subsidy is no longer sustainable.

    Oshinowo also urged the government to embrace the privatisation policy to strengthen the the economy. According to him, the government should go ahead with the sale of ailing refineries, having recorded successes with the power and telecoms sectors privatisation.

    The government, he advised, should refrain from making policies that will further constrain the ease of doing business in the country, emphasising long-term and well thought out policies that will give hope to the citizens.

    He specifically advocated policies that would ensure that the private sector has unhindered access to the foreign exchange market.

    He said: “We are looking for policy options that will ensure unfettered access to foreign exchange by the private sector, not policies that will further constrain the narrow fiscal space.

    “After assessing government’s current policy options, one can conclude that we are not on the right track. Given the situation of things, we can’t expect tangible and meaningful outcomes now, but we should be able to have hope in terms of policy options such that if there is no respite in the short-term, we can long for respite in the medium-term and long-term.”

    He added that concrete plans to show economic diversification from the over-dependence on crude oil revenue are essential.

    “We want policy options that will show clearly that in the next two years, we will start seeing improvement in our infrastructure, in our road and rail networks.

    “We are looking for policy options that will be consistent and ensure that government means business in terms of diversification of this economy away from outright dependence on revenue from the sale of crude oil,” he said.

  • ‘There’re more Nigerian nurses in Europe’

    Head of European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Michel Arrion has said there are more Nigerian nurses in Europe than there are in Nigeria.

    He told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the health professionals would better serve to provide and deliver social services to Nigeria.

    He said a situation where some Nigerians travel to European countries and remained to work was not in the interest of the country.

    “You give visas to students and they study in Europe and they stay in Europe. No, please go back and develop your country. I think it is very important. We must avoid what we call brain drain.

    “I always take the example of the number of Nigerian nurses in European hospitals. There are more Nigerian nurses in European hospitals than in Nigeria. But of course, if they go back (to Europe), if they send back money, that’s very good.

    “They (Nigerians) should be better trained (in Europe) and come back (to Nigeria) and better serve and provide and deliver social services to their compatriots,” he said.

    Earlier, Arrion, in a statement said Nigeria was an important country of origin of regular and irregular migration to the EU and its member-states.

    According to him, many of them risk their lives and perish in the Mediterranean.

    The EU official explained that there were almost 9,000 Nigerian illegal migrants in Europe in 2014.

    “In 2014, Nigerians accounted for an estimated 8,700 out of the 283,532 irregular migrants entering EU borders, many of whom risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean.

    “However, the majority of Nigerians enter and reside in EU legally and millions of Diaspora Nigerians are residing in the EU.

    “As a regional economic power, Nigeria is also on the receiving end of migration, attracting an estimated three million labour workers from neighbouring countries.”

  • SMEDAN to youths: imbibe entrepreneurship

    SMEDAN to youths: imbibe entrepreneurship

    The Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Alhaji Bature Masari, has urged youths to imbibe the culture of entrepreneurship to check the high level of unemployment.

    Masari spoke when officials of a youth organisation visited him in Abuja.

    He noted that unemployment could best be tackled when youths key into various enterprises development and skills acquisition training organised by SMEDAN.

    “Your best option as young men and women is to imbibe the entrepreneurship skills and development of business ideas through a variety of programmes offered by SMEDAN. This will help you employ yourself and provide jobs for others instead of waiting for government employment,’’ Masari said.

    He said youths were very creative and full of business ideas, which required proper guidance and marshalling to develop into enterprise opportunities.

    Masari assured that SMEDAN would support, guide and hand-hold the youth to be self reliant through entrepreneurship engagements as long as they were willing to help themselves.

  • Devaluation not solution to economic woes, Labour tells govt

    Devaluation not solution to economic woes, Labour tells govt

    |The President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Bala Kaigama, has said naira devaluation is not the answer to the country’s economic problems.

    He urged the Federal Government not to embrace devaluation  unless the percentage of devaluation is equivalent to the percentage increase in the national minimum wage.

    Speaking with The Nation, Kaigama agreed that a combination of the after-effects of years of fiscal indiscipline, mismanagement of resources, unacceptable electioneering spending, corruption, policy reversals, unproductive borrowing, falling crude oil prices and serious issues of internal security had dealt a blow to the economy.

    He said inflation had hit double digit, while the value of the naira had collapsed against major international currencies, noting that as an import-dependent country, the implications for the ordinary Nigerian are enormous. Apart from forcing the cost of living to rise, the purchasing power has dropped and jobs are being lost.

    Charging the Federal Government to look inward, the TUC boss cited countries, such as India, China, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, and others, which were nowhere in terms of development in the 1970s/80s, but have transformed into giants and premium net exporters of goods and services and are doing well today.

    He advocated for the re-negotiation of Nigeria’s current loans in the light of the burden debt-servicing constitutes to the budget –  about 23 per cent of the total budget.

    The United Action for Democracy (UAD), in a statement titled, “IMF never means well for working class-people, the poor must not bear the burden of “Recovery”, also warned that nothing good can be expected by working class people from the international financial institution.

    Its National convener, Baba Aye, said IMF would never throw its weight behind a developmental agenda that is beneficial and is driven by the working masses.

    He said: “The removal of fuel subsidy by sleight with the mask of price modulation is itself based on IMF policy advice calling for deregulation.

    “Without fixing the problem of domestic refining, fuel pump price is likely to rise despite falling global prices of oil, as a result of freight and related costs of fuel importation. Removing fuel subsidy instead of pulling down the house of corruption that has smeared it amounts to throwing away the baby with the bath water.

  • ‘Review salary to avoid crisis’

    Construction workers, under the aegis of National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), have urged the Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI) to review the salary of workers to avoid industrial crisis.

    President of the union Mr. Amaechi Asugwuni, gave the warning at a press briefing in Lagos to highlight the plight of construction workers. He said FOCI, which is the employers association in the industry, had delayed the review of the salary in spite of several negotiations.

    ‘’The employers must be in line with industrial procedures. Salaries should be reviewed based on dialogue. The only way to compensate workers for excess job is to increase their salaries. We will not accept a situation where workers are overworked and paid less,” the union leader said.

    He stated that since 2008, the union has been negotiating a review of workers’ salary in line with the National Joint Industrial Council agreement. He said since employers in the industry have been sacking workers because of economic down turn, it was necessary to increase the salaries of the few workers.

    Asugwuni said, ‘’Anybody who wants to drive a business must regard labour. The employers said that government has not paid them for jobs executed and sacked thousands of workers. The employers have continued to sack workers as a result of dwindling fortune. Now, one person does the job of three persons that is why we urge the employers to review their salary.”

    Asugwuni however, said the union has not protested the sack of workers because it wanted the few that were retained to be well remunerated.

    He, however, did not state the number of sacked workers and construction companies involved, but said the union would not tolerate workers being treated with disregard.

    The NUCECFWW president also said the union would start an interactive campaign for the workers to know the state of issue and steps to take when necessary.

  • Labour to picket DISCOs, GENCOs Monday

    Labour to picket DISCOs, GENCOs Monday

    The Organised  Labour is set to  picket all DISCOs (Electricity Distribution Company) and GENCOs (Electricity Generation Company) across the country by Monday, next week.

    In a communiqué by the  Secretary-General, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Musa Lawal, on behalf of TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the decision against DISCOs  is to drive home what they described as unilateral and unlawful hike of electricity tariff. The picketing is expected to be led by theTUC, NLC and the Civil Society groups.

    The communique, which read in part, said: “Please be informed that Monday, 8th Ferbruary, 2016 has been chosen as a day of action against DSICOs to drive home the fact that the unilateral and unlawful hike of electricity tariff will be resisted by consumers ably led by TUC, NLC and Civil Society allies.

    “You are, therefore, requested in furtherance of the above position to mobilise workers in your council to massively picket all offices of DISCOs in your states, on Monday 8th February, 2016.”

    NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, last week  noted as illegal, unfair and unjustifiable, a further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians with the intention to increase electricity tariff.

    He said there  have been no significant improvement in service delivery with the fact that most consumers are not metered in accordance with the signed privatisation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of November 1st, 2013, which stipulated that within 18 months gestation period all consumers are to be metered.

    He said: ‘’There is a subsisting court order dated 28th May, 2015 by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, in the case of Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi versus NERC, that no increment until the determination of the substantive suit.

    “The increment at this time negates the present biting and prevailing economic recession vis-à-vis an attempt to further impoverish the poor masses.”

  • Sacked Cadbury workers get N150m lifeline

    Sacked Cadbury workers get N150m lifeline

    Twenty seven sacked workers of beverages grant Cadbury Nigeria Plc have got about N150 million as severance package. The lifeline came after five years of struggle by the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) to get the management of Cadbury to pay them off.

    NUFBTE declared a trade dispute against the management of Cadbury and consistently followed the case until judgment was delivered in October last year. The judgment in favour of the union had directed the company to reinstate the workers and pay them the backlog of their salaries.

    The workers, however, resigned en-mass and demanded for their exit package.

    Cadbury management last month decided to pay the workers off and called them to its headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos State, for the payment. The workers received two and six million naira, based on their positions and job titles.

    However, the chairman of the workers union, Mr. Akinkuotu Adekunle, said the management was still indebted to the embattled workers, as they were only paid their salaries and gratuities.

    According to him, the workers  expect the company to pay their leave bonuses, end of year gifts, which is usually monetised and 13th month incentives, as well as awards and food allowances as part of the exit packages.

    Akinkuotu recalled that the bone of contention was the management’s flagrant disregard of collective bargaining and procedural agreement. According to him, the management, before he was elected, often manipulated the union and sacked workers at will without due consultation with the national secretariat of the union.

    He said:“In 2008, the management wanted to sack workers without the knowledge of our national secretariat. We resisted it until the national union was carried along. The management had not been treating those of us working in Ondo State well at all, here, we are paid peanuts, and before now our monthly medical allowance used to be N200, before we challenged them and it was increased to N1500.”

    He said it was a call for the re-appraisal of the workers’ welfare initiated by the union, which the management refused that snowballed into the crisis. “In 2009, we wrote management for a meeting to reappraise the condition under which we worked, but not until June 2010, that we got the audience.

    “Even at the meeting, management disagreed on all issues we presented and subsequently refused to have any other meeting with us. Rather, the management resorted to threatening and harassing us with mobile policemen, issued us queries and eventually forced us to collect sack letters,” Akinkuotu stated.

    Noting that it was against labour law to disengage workers under duress, Akinkuotu lamented that in total disregard of due process, the management on June 30, 2010 sacked 27 workers.

    The National President of the union, Lateef Oyelekan, though was happy that the workers eventually got their entitlements after five years of struggle, saying that peace and harmony could dominate the workplace if the management could respect the tenets of industrial relations.

    “The issue supposed not to have degenerated to the level of declaring trade dispute because we follow normal procedure, but for the management stubbornness. The lesson for both of us is that dialogue is better than crisis”, he said.

    He said the battle was easier for the union to fight as the workers had implicit confidence in the leadership of the union. Besides, the union was equally paying the embattled workers monthly stipends.

    Oyelekan added that the workers who resigned en-masse after the judgment was in accordance with the union’s advice.

    He stated, “Nobody can force unwilling workers on unwilling employers, and we all know that people don’t go to court and return as friends, this is the reason why we advised our members to resign and get all their entitlements. It is the best option instead of going back to face victimisation and humiliation.”

  • Akwa Ibom NLC disagrees with govt on promotion without arrears

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa Ibom State Council has cleared the air on its position on the recent approval and release of promotion of workers in the state.

    The immediate past administration  did not implement the promotions and payments due to workers before handing over.

    The promotion of 10,352 public servants, which Governor Emmanuel approved last month covering year 2011 through 2014, were released but without the accompanying payments.

    But the state NLC challenged the government to pay the accompanying promotion with the arrears. Delayed promotions, the NLC said, is usually accompanied by arrears dated- back to when such promotions were due, as regular promotion is the legitimate right of civil and public servants.

    In a statement by the NLC signed by the Chairman, Comrade Etim Ukpong, and made available to newsmen in Uyo, last week, the labour union said it has at no point negotiated or agreed with the government on promotion without arrears.

    The union expressed disappointment that the state government would unilaterally take decisions on issues concerning workers in the state without consulting with labour to take worker’s welfare into consideration.

    “The NLC, Akwa Ibom State Council hereby states categorically that at no time whatsoever did it enter into any agreement with government nor sign any memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of the state to the effect that promotions of those years should be released to workers without the corresponding arrears.

    “While the NLC, Akwa Ibom State council demands that letters of promotion to workers be accompanied with arrears of promotion as is legitimate, the NLC urges workers to disregard any insinuations to the contrary”, the statement added.

    The Labour union frowned at rumours making the rounds that it has approved the release of 2011 to 2014 promotions to Civil and Public Servants in the state without arrears, and insisted that such promotions are usually associated with arrears as workers had already worked to be so rewarded.

    The state government has released the 2011 to 2014 promotions for public servants without arrears.

    The absence of the long-awaited promotion arrears has thrown civil and public servants in the state into lamentation as they complained that such promotions were never announced without associated benefits.

  • ‘SMEDAN trained 25,000 SMEs in 2015’

    ‘SMEDAN trained 25,000 SMEs in 2015’

    The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) trained 25,000 small business owners in various vocational and enterprise development programmes in 2015.

    The Director-General of SMEDAN, Mallam Bature Masari, who made this known to reporters in Abuja, said the agency had strategised to provide more services to Nigerians in the current year.

    “No fewer than 25,000 small business owners were trained under various vocational and enterprise development training programmes of the agency in 2015. This includes about 4, 000 small business operators trained under SMEDAN’s 2015 capital project implementation across all states of the federation and the Federal capital, Abuja. In addition to that, more than 1, 000 business owners and starters have received various trainings, mentoring and counselling under the National Enterprise Development Policy piloted by SMEDAN.

    “Also, more than 20,000 other business operators accessed SMEDAN empowerment and training programmes through the implementation of the 2015/2016 zonal intervention capital programmes of the National Assembly,’’ Masari said.

    He said the zonal intervention capital programmes of the National Assembly were aimed at bringing succour and economic empowerment to Nigerians in the senatorial districts and federal constituencies.

    Masari said the agency had adopted strategies to provide its services to more Nigerians by redesigning its training programmes to run throughout the year.

    “From this year, the agency will be conducting its training programmes quarterly instead of waiting till the last quarter of the year,’’ he added.

  • Labour backs conditional cash transfer for the poor

    … condemns renewed bombing of pipelines in Niger Delta

    Organised labour has thrown its weight behind the proposed conditional cash transfer, a programme modelled after the social security schemes of developed countries by the Federal Government.

    National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) General Secretary Comrade Issa Aremu, who clarified the position of organised labour – Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) – said the unions supported it and would collaborate with the Office of the Vice President.

    At the 40th Day prayer for his late wife, Hajia Hamdalat Abiodun in Kaduna, Aremu praised the Muhammadu Buhari administration for setting aside N500 billion for direct social transfers in the 2016 budget before the National Assembly.

    “The Office of the Vice President as directed by the President, must work with NLC and TUC to realise this objective. There is a link between support for those who are losing out in this country’s callous market rat race and economic growth.

    “The organised labour movement is ready to assist the Federal Government to make this programme a success. The conditional, legitimate transfers should serve as the basis for a national comprehensive social security programme for Nigeria. As a worthy investment in our country’s human infrastructure, not stomach infrastructure, it is as important an investment as physical infrastructure,” he said.

    Aremu praised President Buhari for looking at the faces of about 70 million poor Nigerians, who are living on less than a dollar per day and making them to access national resources as a matter of right, not of abuse as some corrupt politicians do on the eve of elections.

    Aremu, who praised the school feeding programmes of some state governments, including that of Governor Nasir el-Rufai administration in Kaduna State, reiterated his call for gender mainstreaming in Nigeria.

    “It is time we intensified the advocacy for gender mainstreaming. Governments and corporate organisations must mainstream women in the families, at workplaces, government and society at large,” he said.

    Also, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, condemned the renewed blowing-up of major oil and gas pipelines by suspected militants in the Niger Delta region, adding that the issue of national security should not be taken lightly.

    “Pipeline vandalism is highly condemnable. This should not be allowed to happen in a civilised society,” he said, pointing out that oil and gas pipeline vandalism will contribute largely to the air and water pollution of the region and reduce the revenue base of the country.

    Wabba said pipeline vandalism is a threat to national security, saying that the issue should not be taken lightly. He advised the Niger- Delta militants to engage in dialogue with the Federal Government rather than confrontation in resolving issues.

    He urged the Federal Government to sustain the amnesty programme as it would serve as a means of addressing some of the challenges in the region. “I hope that the renewed blowing-up of major oil and gas pipelines is not as a result of the ongoing probe of some political leaders in the region.

    “Our call is that the government should remain focused in its fight against corruption and it should not be tired by whatever pressure. We also want to appreciate what the security agencies have been able to do in terms of protecting the pipelines in the region. They should put in more effort to contain the crisis,” Wabba said.

    He assured Nigerians that NLC would give its support to the Federal Government to protect important installations in the region and the country at large.

    The NLC President led the social, religious and political leaders to the prayer that held at the Aremu’s residence in Kaduna.

    The prayer session also had in attendance: Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Justice Wale Abiru of the Court of Appeal, Abuja; General Zarmani Lekwot, Major- General Lawrence Onoja; as well as Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu of PENCOM and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, both of whom were represented.