The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • NUPENG, SON to flush out substandard products

    NUPENG, SON to flush out substandard products

    Fake lubricant and base oil producers have been put put on notice –  the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON)  plans to join forces with National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) Engine Lubricant Dealers Branch, to stop their trade.

    The two bodies have set up a working committee made up of 10 members (five each) to set out modalities  for a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would set  the framework for  a planned task force that will drive the change within the next 90 days.

    Speaking at the event, which held at SON’s Lekki Office, Lagos the Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu said the move is a welcomed as it would enable a cleaner oil and gas sector, adding that there was need to sanitise the sector in the overall interest of Nigeria.

    Odumodu said  it was on the government interest in seeing that the oil and gas lubricant sub-sector is run in accordance with the laws of the land, hinting that collaboration with NUPENG is what SON needs to bring sanity and due process in that industry.

    “I want to assure you that SON will collaborate with you in this battle. Some people bring in base oil and try to  adulterate it. Nigeria cannot be a safe haven for such unscrupulous importers or blenders. We will flush them out with joint collaboration and ensure that genuine business flourish in the sector.

    He assured that  base oil,  which does not meet the quality that  suit our modern day automobiles/machinery in terms of the SAE ranges and API classifications, would be removed from the market.

    According to him,  it is important to  bring in other stakeholders and groups in the sector “so that we can eradicate substandard goods from oil and gas sector”.

    ”We shall sign an MOU by first setting up a working committee and a task force team  that will bring sanity to the sector with in 90 days,’’ he said.

    Reacting, Comrade Braimoh spoke against the damages caused by adulterated products to engines and machines and the attendant effect on the economy, expressing worries over complaints about  poor quality of imported lubricant brands to the detriment of locally produced ones.

    He said this mandated the need that SON and NUPENG should synergise to reduce the incidents of adulterated and substandard products to the barest minimum for the good of the public.

    Other top executives of SON at the meeting, include: Mr Bede Obayi, Director Enforcement, Engineer; Timothy Abner, Head Petroleum; Mr Ofalayo, Group Head Chemical Technology, Engineer Gabriel Abba, among others.

  • ‘Don’t allow local govts pay teachers’ salaries’

    ‘Don’t allow local govts pay teachers’ salaries’

    The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has reiterated its calls on the Federal Government not to allow local governments to be in-charge of paying primary school teachers’ salaries.

    The union said the call became necessary  due to its fears and  concerns over the capability of local government councils and their leaders to pay salaries of primary school teachers, given the history of the councils’  inability  to carry out this responsibility in the past.

    National President of the NUT, Comrade Alogba Olukoya said this at a press conference in Abuja.

    According to him,  the NUT views the stance of Mr. President to strengthen the local government system as a step in the right direction, believing that such an effort will give the needed impetus to the third tier of government to carry out its statutory responsibilities for the overall benefit of the people.

    “However, we wish to use this opportunity to draw the attention of President Buhari to our age -long fears and concerns about the capability of local government councils and the political will of their leaders to pay salaries of primary school teachers in the country given the history of total failure of the councils to carry out this responsibility in the past. We recall with nostalgia the horrifying experience of primary school teachers between 1990 and 1994 when primary school education was under the control of the local government,” he said.

  • NLC restates commitment to negotiating minimum wage

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reaffirmed its commitment to negotiating a new minimum wage with the Federal Government despite the  country’s economic crisis.

    Speaking with The Nation, a factional President of the Congress,  Comrade Joe Ajaero, said it would not accept the blackmail of economic crisis to continue labour abuses through denial of basic rights.

    According to him, when the N18,000 minimum wage was approved, it was agreed that it would be reviewed after five years, adding that it is over five years after the introduction of the N18,000 minimum wage, and workers are yet to have their salaries reviewed.

    “Government should not deny workers their basic rights and privileges as entrenched in the agreement with labour,” Comrade Ajaero said.

    He implored relevant government agencies and state governments not to delay or deny immediate negotiation of a new minimum wage.

    He tasked National Assembly to bring an end to its lingering leadership tussle and concentrate on working with President Muhammadu  Buhari in tackling national issues for a better Nigeria.

    He said one of the best services the Nigerian lawmakers could offer Nigeria was to close ranks and cooperate with the President in ensuring that the financial bailouts availed some salary-owing state governors are judiciously used for paying workers salaries while other national issues are addressed.

    “Our lawmakers, by now are supposed to see the national issues confronting the nation as more important than any other thing. Nigerians are waiting for the change promised during the electioneering campaign.

    “Now that the politicians have been voted in, they should get to work to strengthen our internal democracy and achieve for all, a better Nigeria through legislations that will bring about constant electricity generation and distribution; employment generation; improved primary, secondary and tertiary education; healthcare; security, legislating against corruption; entrenching industrialisation and reforms in the oil and gas industry; among several others,” Ajaero said.

    The lawmakers, he said, should join forces with President Buhari in recovering stolen commonwealth of over 150 billion dollars stacked away in foreign banks by past governors, ministers, and other government functionaries.

    “We need not search further for any other reason for the perennial decay in the country and the sorry state of critical infrastructure. Our anti-corruption agencies must be repositioned and our justice system must be critically reviewed while international support is also sought to bring an end to corruption in Nigeria.

    “All the outrageous remuneration structure for the Senators and members of the House of Representatives and the profligacy of state governors must stop if we want to be reckoned with as a serious entity among the comity of nations,” Ajaero added.

    He also challenged the lawmakers to address the issue of income inequality and poverty among Nigerian workers so as to put in proper perspectives the intricate connection between income, consumption and production.

  • NLC faults NBS’s reports

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has faulted the National Bureau of Statistics  reports which put unemployment rate in the urban areas of the country at 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

    The NLC fumed at the escalating rate of unemployment in the country, describing the situation as a ticking time bomb that all tiers of government must give immediate attention to address.

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the central labour union expressed sadness that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the government agency responsible for researching and providing reliable data to assist government’s job creation efforts, is not doing enough in this direction.

    In a communiqué at the end of its meeting in Lagos, signed by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC frowned at what it called “disingenuous approach of the NBS and other agencies of government to manipulate unemployment figures in the country.”

    “This fraudulent approach is not helpful to the government, which needs accurate figures to properly plan on ways of resolving the alarming unemployment situation in the country,” Wabba said.

    Recently, the NBS put unemployment rate in the urban areas of the country at 10.1 per cent in the second quarter of this year. The rate indicated about 2.3 percentage points higher than the 8.8 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter and 3.6 percentage points higher than the rate in Q4, 2014.

  • NNPC reform: Oil workers disagree with Fed Govt

    NNPC reform: Oil workers disagree with Fed Govt

    Nigeria’s oil workers have criticised the on-going reform in the oil and gas industry, saying they would take steps to protect their members’ interest.

    The workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (NUPENG/ PENGASSAN) described the reform as a cover-up and vindictive action against their members.

    The workers therefore urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the newly appointed Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, to order by directing him to stop the on-going sack in the Corporation.

    Vowing to give equal response to whatever action of government they consider capable of suppressing worker’s interests, the unions suggested that a team should be set up immediately to review Kachikwu’s actions so far in the interest of justice, equity and fairness.

    They said within two weeks of the commencement of the reform,  Kachikwu has carried out massive restructuring of the management of the corporation. Apart from the sack and re-composition of the board, he has retired 38 top management staff, pruning the top hierarchy of the corporation from 122 to 83, while reducing the operational directorates from eight to four.

    In a joint statement by the President of PENGASSAN, Francis Johnson, and his counterpart in NUPENG, Igwe Achese, accused the NNPC management of executing an agenda that did not carry the workers’ unions along.

    The statement, which was also signed by their General Secretaries – Bayo Olowoshile and Joseph Ogbebor respectively, also accused Kachikwu of pursuing an agenda contrary to the idea canvassed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “While we are fully in support of the fight against corruption, the fight itself should not be turned against workers whom government swore to protect,” the oil workers said, noting that the ongoing exercise portends a great danger in the oil sector if workers are meant to bear the brunt of government’s current action where the fight against corruption is now being used as an act of vindictiveness against workers.

    The on-going exercise, the oil workers stated, did not show any attempt to fight corruption and block leakages, but was “an act of cover up.”

    “We dare the new GMD of NNPC, Dr. Kachikwu to recover the stolen trillions of naira in the sector than retiring and sacking of innocent workers. We are quite sure that the on-going action is not the idea of our dear President,” the workers stated.

    As players in all spheres of the industry’s operation, the unions said they have been trying to meet with the President to review the on-going reforms in the NNPC, saying they have so far been kept in the dark by his protocol staff.

    Despite being the representatives of organised workers in the industry, the union leaders claimed that all their suggestions on the critical challenges affecting the on-going reforms were not being considered by the authorities.

  • ‘Skill, expertise vital to grassroots’ service delivery’

    The Director General, Lagos State Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC), Mrs Olubunmi Fabanmwo, has identified quality skill and expertise as critical to the discharge of people-oriented services at the third tier of government.

    She spoke at the end of a capacity building programme organised for Council Managers (CM) and Treasurers of the 20 local government areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDA) at the centre.

    She said as management officers, the CMs and Treasurers represent the critical interface between the government and the people at the grassroots, adding that the discharge of quality policies at such level would be determined by the amount of skill and expertise available to them in the discharge of their responsibilities.

    Mrs Fabanmwo said the two modules, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development and Public Financial Management Law would enrich the performance of the council administrators.

    She, therefore, charged all the council administrators to commit to leading the required change in their various local governments and LCDAs, adding that this was imperative if the third tier of government would be fully integrated into the vision and development plan of the state government.

    The training was among a series of capacity building programmes put together to empower local government administrators to contribute effectively to sustainable development at the grassroots.

    Participants said the training has further gone to underscore the commitment of the government to effective governance at the grassroots, adding that the effort would create the required symbiotic interface between the civil service and the local governments in the state.

    They appreciated the drive of government to harmonise public service activities throughout the state in line with the roles and specific contributions of all sectors to development and urged that the development planning adopted by the state be allowed to trickle down to the local governments and LCDAs, so as to provide uniform direction at the two critical levels of governance.

    They admitted that the Knowledge Management Workshop has empowered them with skills and techniques required to effectively manage the knowledge and skills acquired by local government staff with a view to maximising capacity building investment, while the Financial Management Law Workshop has provided new vista into Public Service financial authorities and the application of the International Public.

  • Labour slams Energy Commission for anti-labour practices

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) said it has concluded arrangements to picket the offices of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) nationwide over unfair labour practices and gross insensitivity to the welfare of its employees.

    Speaking with reporters, the Secretary-General of the union, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, said the anti-labour disposition of the management of the commission had reached a ridiculous level, with the head of the organisation trampling on the rights of workers with impunity.

    The union accused ECN management of playing hide-and-seek on serious labour issues that could snowball into serious industrial crisis.

    “The scenario on ground now is that the Director-General of the Commission, Prof Eli Jidere Bala, believes he is too big to hold meetings with the workers’ representatives to discuss welfare issues affecting members.

    “The general public will be amazed to know that the ECN is now a theatre for all sorts of anti-labour practices. There are cases of directors in the commission who have been functioning in acting capacity for seven years without confirmation. Instead of confirming the appointment of these competent and qualified personnel in the commission, the management preferred to frustrate them out of service through intimidation and harassment,” the union said..

    Lawal said union officials are not spared of the rod, as they are posted out of the headquarters on flimsy excuses contrary to the provisions of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98 on Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.

    The ASCSN said the commission is now known for blatant breach of procurement rules and procedures in all its business transactions and that would explain why it is failing in discharging its primary and core responsibility of strategic planning and coordination of national policies in the energy sector.

    Lawal also lamented that all efforts by the workers’ representatives to get the management of the Commission to a dialogue table to address the avalanche of labour issues affecting its members had been futile.

    “The DG, Prof. Bala is now operating as an emperor. He has conquered the entire Energy Commission territory. He now sees the commission as his personal property,” the union emphasised.

    The ASCSN vowed to maintain the momentum until the DG meets with the union to resolve all outstanding labour issues affecting its members in line with international labour best practices.

    Efforts to get reaction from ECN officials did not yield any result as none of them pick calls.

  • TUC praises govt over Ogoni clean-up, NNPC restructuring

    TUC praises govt over Ogoni clean-up, NNPC restructuring

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has praised the Federal Government over its planned clean-up of oil-polluted Ogoniland, resuscitation of the national carrier and the appointment of a new Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    TUC in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and Secretary-General, Comrade Musa Lawal, said it views the moves as steps in the right direction if the change mantra espoused and canvassed by the ruling party is to yield positive results.

    The Congress advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to expedite action on the afore-mentioned areas and other items on its developmental agenda, as time is not on the government’s side.

    According to the statement, successive government’s insensitivity to the plight of the people has been the major cause of most unrests and insurgencies in the land.

    The labour chiefs noted that the initiative to clean up Ogoniland will help give a sense of belonging to the Niger Delta people. Part of the statement read: “Our country, being a mono-economy, cannot afford to neglect the goose that lays the golden egg. The present administration should go ahead and also diversify the economy, revive other sectors as it has planned to do in the aviation industry through the reintroduction of the national carrier, and fight corruption to a stand-still.

    “The Niger Delta agitation, for instance, started as a result of failure to address the grievances of the people, which include the destruction of their farmlands by oil spillage, gas flaring.”

    On the NNPC, TUC said the war against corruption should be comprehensive, lest it be viewed as mere witch-hunting. “While we applaud the sanitisation that has commenced at the NNPC, we also insist that it be extended to the ministries and other agencies of government. There is no patriotic Nigerian who is not bothered by the administrative and financial anomalies we have encouraged and accommodated as a nation,” Kaigama said.

    The labour Center also noted that the move to revive the national carrier is a welcome development, adding that it is a shame for Nigeria, a nation with a population of over 170 million people, not to have a national carrier at a time when smaller nations like Ethiopia operate airlines that are major sources of prestige and foreign exchange to them.

    The statement further said British Airways and other foreign airlines earn substantial revenue from flying Nigeria’s airspace, taking advantage of the large vacuum created by the ineptitude of our leaders over the years.

    “Apart from the thousands of Nigerians who go on medical tourism to Britain and other foreign nations, a good percentage of Nigerians who live in those nations come home at least twice yearly aboard their airlines. Just imagine how much we would earn if they flew our own national carrier instead? A lot of foreign exchange is involved here!

    Suffice to say that all those countries are having a field day making aviation money that we should be making. And this is aside the massive employment potentials that we have denied ourselves,” TUC lamented.

  • NUPENG appoints new acting general secretary

    NUPENG appoints new acting general secretary

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has appointed Comrade Joseph Ogbebor as Acting General Secretary of the Union with immediate effect.

    Comrade Joseph Ogbebor takes over from Comrade Isaac Aberare, the former General Secretary who recently retired from the union after 33 years of meritorious service.

    Comrade Joseph Ogbebor, before his appointment was the former Deputy General Secretary in-charge of Operations of the Union.  Comrade Ogbebor is a law graduate from the University of Benin, Edo State.

    He passed through the mills in NUPENG to rise to this present position, having served in various capacities and levels as Assistant General Secretary in Warri Zone, Senior Assistant General Secretary, and Head of zone, Port Harcourt/Warri Zones.

    He was later transferred to Lagos as Deputy General Secretary (Administration) and later Operations, before his new appointment as Acting General Secretary.

  • Union urges Buhari over national carrier

    The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), has cautioned the Federal Government over the restructuring in the aviation  industry and against engaging a foreign airline as technical partner to the proposed new national carrier.

    President of NAAPE Balami Isaac David, in Lagos, said the development would stunt the growth of the national carrier due to the vested interests of such foreign airlines.

    David said any idea of engaging a foreign airline as technical partner should not be allowed, adding that no sane business person will encourage a viable competitor, nor will such partners agree to terms that will grant advantage to the new carrier over their already vested interests in their home airlines.

    His words: “Everyone who has been in or around aviation for a while would easily agree that the ill advised liquidation of the defunct national carrier, Nigeria Airways, is the evil wind that has bedevilled the industry till date.

    “It was not a mere death of an airline. It was the demise of the only known airline superstructure in Nigeria – the best ensemble of airline professionals. It was the demise of Nigeria’s global standard aircraft maintenance system that had already attained B737 check D (highest maintenance procedure) in Nigeria by Nigerians. It was, therefore, the death of Nigeria’s dream to establish and operate an MRO soonest.

    “The defunct National Carrier was responsible for the production of well trained aviation professionals – in piloting, engineering, marketing, cabin crew, dispatch, and every facet of aircraft operation. Its death also killed this noble endeavour.

    “And since the forced liquidation of the Nigeria Airways, no Nigerian Carrier has been able to go near its big shoes. None has even started to move in that direction”.

    He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for mustering the will power on the establishment of a new national carrier which he said, can now spearhead Nigeria’s deserved quest for global reckoning in aviation.