The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • NLC demands minimum wage review

    NLC demands minimum wage review

    • Suspension of privatisation

    The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comade Ayuba Wabba, has demanded a review of the N18,000 minimum wage by the Federal Government.

    Wabba said the union is in support of the government’s anti-corruption crusade, as it is a part of the initiative designed to reposition the nation’s economy.

    The NLC President who spoke  at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the current minimum wage is unrealistic given the present economic reality.

    He said when the NLC agreed on the N18, 000 minimum wage with the Federal Government, the exchange rate was N140 to a dollar, but as at today, it is N220 to a dollar.

    Wabba said Nigerian workers should be treated fairly by reviewing their salary upward in line with the present economic reality, adding that the minimum wage is no longer enough to sustain workers.

    He condemned the spate of corruption in the country, where a privileged few corner the resources belonging to all Nigerians, pointing out that the NLC would support President Mohammed Buhari’s move to prosecute culprits.

    “The issue of corruption in Nigeria is mind boggling and unacceptable to us, as this has caused many of us to live in penury. Those responsible for corruption and stealing of our collective patrimony should be prosecuted and made to face the law, if found wanting. This is the only way to make Nigeria work.”

    He said a lot of resources that should accrue to the state are being stolen by individuals and some privileged few. The NLC president called on the Federal Government to encourage workers to expose corruption in their domain, saying if workers were encouraged as whistle blowers, it would help the country.

    He said the President should ensure that such workers are protected while acting as whistle blowers, stressing that no one should be victimised for such act.

    Wabba said the various probes by the anti-corruption agencies must not end up like others such as the power sector and the fuel subsidy scam, which ended without result.

    He called for speedy trial of suspects by the judiciary, adding that Judges must henceforth not be allowed to grant injunctions against suspects.

    “The anti-corruption agencies must not relent in their efforts in prosecuting corruption; that money must be recovered and put back into the country,’’ he said.

    He called for the diversification of the economy, stating that a situation where the government depends largely on oil revenue is inimical to growth.

    Wabba warned the government against disengaging workers in the cause of the merging of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), saying the NLC would resist such move.

    He said merging ministries with the sole aim of disengaging workers, would be met with stiff resistance by labour unions.

    Also, the NLC’s other faction led by Comrade Joe Ajero, has called on the government to suspend further privatisation of public assets, claiming that Nigerians are not reaping the promised benefits of improved and cost effective services from the public enterprises already privatised.

    Speaking with newsmen after their council meeting, Ajaero said it is clear that these privatised enterprises, like Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Ajaokuta and other steel rolling mills are not in a position to provide public-spirited services.

    He said Nigerians are worse off paying more for poor services and performance.

    Lamenting the state of the economy, he said: “NEC in session expressed concern that if there is any reason Nigeria is yet to fulfil her development potentials, it is corruption. With over $150 billion  stolen and stashed away in foreign banks, we need not search further for any other reason for the perennial decay and the sorry state of our critical infrastructure.

    He said the NEC is in support of the President’s efforts to seek international support to ensure repatriation of the stolen wealth from Nigeria and bring to book everyone found culpable.

    “Beyond the recovery of stolen wealth, we urge the present administration to strengthen the anti-corruption agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC), and as well carry out reforms in the justice administration system, such that corruption cases can be quickly dispensed with,” he added.

    Ajaero said the Council noted with pains that all economic indices indicate that the economy is in recession with falling oil revenue, the fluctuating foreign exchange rate, rising inflation, gradual decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, declining household income, and increasing unemployment among others.

    “NEC in session opined that it is time to rethink our economic development strategy from foreign reserve guzzling import dependent framework to a system that will deliberately stimulate and promote sustainable productive activities in agriculture and manufacturing geared towards exportation of made in Nigeria made products.

    “NEC in session reiterates that the development of the real sector, particularly the iron, steel and automobile, mining, textile and garment segments, is quite critical for the creation of mass decent jobs, elimination of poverty and building a virile and sustainable economy,” he said.

    He said the Congress therefore, commits to engaging the present administration on these issues through campaigns and policy advocacy.

  • Workers to govt: don’t cut wages

    Workers to govt: don’t cut wages

    The Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari administration not to reduce workers’ salaries  in its bid to cut the cost of governance.

    Addressing reporters in Lagos, the National President of the association, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama, said it would be undesirable for the economy if anybody, or group of persons, contemplated reducing the salaries of civil servants who are already underpaid in a country where the government had reneged in its responsibilities to the citizenry.

    The labour leader said any cut in salary in any guise would be an invitation to industrial crisis, recalling that many states owed civil servants arrears of salaries and other rightful entitlements, yet these workers were expected to come to work, feed their families, stay healthy, pay children’s school fees and rent.

    “It must be recognised that civil servants pay has lost its value since the last increment was done in 2010. The subsidy removal, devaluation of the naira and the high rate of infrastructural decay has continued to rub innocent civil servants the value of their money despite being paid peanut,” he lamented.

    According to labour, what is being contemplated as pay cut for political office holders cannot be extended to civil servants because the two pay structures cannot be compared.

    ”While a director in the civil service goes home with less than N353, 996.94 monthly, a member of the National Assembly collects close to $181,973.75 or N40 million monthly, made up of basic salary, hardship allowance, constituency allowance, newspaper allowance, wardrobe allowance, accommodation allowance, recess allowance, utilities, domestic staff, entertainment, personal assistant, leave allowance, vehicle maintenance allowance, car allowance, and severance package of 300 per cent of basic salary,” Comrade Kaigama said.

    Insisting that there was no basis to compare the two, he said while political office holders can make do with 75 per cent reduction in emolument, a one per cent cut in the salary of civil servants will end up sending them to their untimely death through unwarranted hardships and miseries.

    The union added that civil servants expectations from the new government were very high after many years of unfulfilled promises by past administrations, which have left them undervalued.

    According to the union, if the government wants to deliver on its change promise, it must be recognised that the pay structure of civil servants has failed to reward them fairly and the new government must acknowledge that genuine engagement with its workforce can only produce a better and more efficient public service which will bring about the change Nigerians desire and require.

  • ‘Benefits of ITF-UNIDO skills survey’

    ‘Benefits of ITF-UNIDO skills survey’

    The ongoing Skills Gaps Survey by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) will place Nigeria at par with other developed nations, experts have said.

    Experts said the survey would improve ITF’s plan to provide training for employment and job creation, as well as identify the challenges of mismatches between skills demands and supply, which the country is grappling with.

    Expressing optimism that the skills gap survey by ITF would also lead to the production of entrepreneurs and job creators in the country, Industrial Relations Practitioner and Managing Director of Soreb Consulting International, Mr. Kunle Rotimi, said the exercise will help Nigeria produce evidence based industrial skills development policies that can contribute towards alleviation of skills gaps in the industrial sector, thereby increasing productivity.

    Rotimi, the author of “Conceptual Framework in Human Resource Development”, noted that the skills gap survey is driven by the requirements of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), which aims at providing baseline data that will guide government’s investment for skills development in Nigeria through identifying skills requirement, skills availability, skills gap, skills mismatch and skills supply.

    According to him, the skills gap survey will further assist the nation in identifying the types of jobs that are available and the ease of filling such vacancies. It will also identify skills misallocation and skill gap within sectors and organisations.

    Registrar/Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Mr. Sunday Adeyemi, expressed optimism that the skills gap survey by ITF and UNIDO would address remedial actions to be taken by companies to overcome difficulties in finding candidates for vacancies that are difficult to fill.

    Adeyemi also said the survey would support enterprises’ investment plans in the next decade or more years, adding that it was encouraging that ITF and UNIDO engaged the services of indigenous experts that developed the survey instrument in collaboration with the research and development faculty of the ITF.

  • Prosecute corrupt public servants, Buhari urged

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute all corrupt public servants.

    NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba told The Nation that over half of the states defaulted in the payment of salaries to their workerss underscored the extent to which the political elite had run the country aground.

    He said: “Workers and the Nigerian people in general are expectant that President Buhari will have the magic wand to turn our country around and safe us from our political elites, who have taken maladministration and bad governance to new height.

    “As organised labour, we are waiting to engage the President as he unfolds his programme. We await his promise to throw open the identities of public officers who participated in the massive looting of our commonwealth, which the President had put at a conservative $150 billion over the last decade alone.’’

    Wabba added that NLC was awaiting the arrest and persecution of the former Minister, who was alleged to have stolen $6 billion, adding that Labour would protest the massive corruption and bad governance of the past administration and push for all the stolen wealth be recovered and those involved sanctioned.

    He said the fight against corruption must begin from somewhere, adding that the anti-corruption agencies and the National Assembly must support the government’s plan to deal with corruption.

    Wabba said: “The feeling and perception of Nigerians is that our anti-corruption agencies are either overwhelmed or do not have the requisite edge to respond to the renewed assault on our collective conscience by those taking advantage of their position to steal and loot our commonwealth without any qualms.”

    He lamented that corruption cases being handled by the anti-corruption agencies are taking too long –some having gone on for as long as seven to nine years – are often thrown out, not for lack of merit or points of law but on mere technicalities.

    “For Nigerians to regain confidence in our anti-corruption agencies and the judicial process, high profile corruption cases need to be more diligently and competently handled and dispensed with more quickly and timely at the level of the courts. The NLC believes that the National Assembly has a key role to play in ensuring that justice is not only done but truly seen to have been done,” Wabba said.

    According to him, one of the most credible ways of doing this is by strengthening the anti-corruption laws so that people who steal the nation’s collective wealth can be brought to justice far much quicker than is presently done.

    He argued that corruption would reduce once people know that there is no hiding place for those who perpetuate it and that corrupt enrichment will not necessarily buy them freedom from the long arm of the law.

    “Conviction of perpetrators of corrupt practices is how corruption is being tackled in other climes where they have fought it and brought it to a standstill,” the NLC President insisted.

     

  • Unionists blame govts for continent’s woes

    Unionists blame govts for continent’s woes

    African leaders must take the blame for the various socio-economic challenges limiting the continent’s emergence as an economic giant, unionists have said.

    They spoke at the “Human and Trade Union Rights Network of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), African Region”, hosted by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.

    The two-day event, which drew participants from some African countries, noted that the insecurity challenge, though a universal issue, overwhelmed African countries due to greed and corruption of the leaders.

    NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in his opening address, noted that corruption was at the heart of the problems in Africa and Nigeria.

    “The problem of unemployment could not be isolated from the issue of insecurity, which has been a real threat to all of us, until recent time. There is no doubt that we are sitting on a time bomb when we look at the rate of migration across borders,” he warned.

    He condemned the government’s position on privatisation, warning that it was only abandoning her responsibility.

    He lamented that the government had mortgaged most of the achievements made by the past leaders who emerged just immediately after the nation’s independence.

  • TUC urges Odusile to fight for NUJ members’ welfare

    TUC urges Odusile to fight for NUJ members’ welfare

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has congratulated the new National President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Waheed Odusile, urging him to use his position to fight and improve the welfare of journalists.

    In a congratulatory letter signed by the Secretary General of the union, Comrade  Musa Lawal, the TUC said: “On behalf of the President, the National Administrative Council (NAC) and entire members of the Congress, we hereby heartily congratulate you on your recent election as National President of the NUJ. We also felicitate with your union on the peaceful and successful conduct of the elections.”

    Lawal said an overview of Odusile’s election manifesto leaves TUC persuaded of his ability to take the practice of journalism to greater levels in Nigeria.  “We trust that you would ensure the entrenchment of professionalism and high ethical standards in the practice of journalism in the country, bearing in mind the fact that mismanagement of information does no society any good,” he said.

    The union implored Odusile to work assiduously to improve the welfare of the NUJ members. “Taking into cognisance the risks involved on the job, a good insurance programme that guarantees the future of journalists would be a welcome initiative.

    “We also urge you to make the issue of training and re-training of journalists a priority during your tenure to ensure that journalists in the country stand tall among their counterparts in other parts of the world and sustain the respect the profession commands globally,” Lasal advised.

    He said the congress is particularly disturbed that several journalists, who are also heads of families, are owed as much as 10 months salaries at a time when their counterparts in other countries are being well taken care of. This is very improper, and we hope your administration will rise up to the challenge,” the union said.

  • Union prescribes measures for employment generation

    The Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) has challenged the Federal Government to help bring down the cost of production and improve infrastructure in order to promote industrialisation and employment in the country.

    Speaking at the 35th yearly general meeting of the AFBTE in Lagos, the association’s President, Paul Gbadebo identified high cost of manufacturing as a barrier to competitiveness of local products, saying it makes imported products more attractive to consumers.

    Gbadebo also deplored the state of infrastructure especially power supply, road network and rail service, calling on the new government to invest in infrastructural development.

    He also identified other factors necessary for improvement of the economy to include, enforcement of corporate governance and best practices in order to combat corruption, ensuring access to long term credit for genuine manufacturers and reduction of bank lending rate.

    Others are securing the nation’s border against illegal imports, tackling insurgency in the northern part of Nigeria, checking multiple taxation, and streamlining activities of regulatory agencies.

    He, however, alerted manufacturers to brace up for challenges that will arise from the devaluation of the naira and dwindling oil revenue.

    The Executive Secretary of AFBTE, Aderemi Adegboyega, identified impunity, official high handedness, and insensitivity on the part of regulatory agencies as factors that affect the manufacturing sector negatively.

    “The kind of things we want the government to do include creating a situation where multiple taxation would be avoided. Regulatory agencies should be supporting our businesses. The government here should ensure that our raw materials are sourced at prices that are reasonable. We should be able to source finance from the banks at cost that will be helpful to the manufacturers”, he said.

    He also said a level playing field should be provided in terms of access to finance, infrastructure and government patronage, lamenting a situation where one has to “know” someone in government or a bank before they can be attended to.

    Reflecting on measures adopted by the Federal Government to improve the economy, he said the recent removal of 41 items from foreign exchange list may not achieve the desired aims unless the government can prevent smuggling of the products.

    “The truth is those goods might have been taken away from the list, but somehow we still find them in the market. And because we find them in the market, it means some people are bringing them to the market without paying duties. And when they don’t pay duties it makes such duties to be very cheap and people would buy such products anyway. It does not really confer any advantage”, Adegboyega said.

    He also sought introduction of a special foreign exchange regime for the manufacturing  sector. “The cost at which manufacturers get finance from the banks now is not helpful. Government can support manufacturers in terms of access to funds. Also in terms of cost of machinery and moratorium, and the leave period that is granted to manufacturers of goods in terms of taxation”, he added.

  • NUPENG okays railway haulage of petroleum products

    NUPENG okays railway haulage of petroleum products

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), said it has no objection to the use of railways for haulage of petroleum products across the country.

    The South-West Chairman of the Union, Mr. Tokunbo Korodo, told newsmen in Lagos that it is a good development as long as Nigerians would not be deprived the right to get the products at the approved prices.

    “We do not have any objection to any mode of distribution so far it will get to the masses at a reasonable price. Whether they use train or they use helicopter to distribute the products, we cannot kick against it because we know that there is no way a train can get to all the filling stations.

    “They will still park somewhere and use our trucks to get the products to any retail outlets. Even, the locomotive driver that drives any train loaded with petroleum products to any destination will, automatically, become my member,” he said.

    Korodo said the union will create another branch that will be added to the existing one, adding that it is a welcome development if that will be the best way.

    He noted that the best and fastest way to distribute petroleum products is through pipeline, adding that government is running away from it due to the activities of vandals.

    “It is sad that our security agencies cannot protect the pipelines,” he said, asking, “If the security agencies cannot protect our pipelines, then what is the fate of the ordinary Nigerian?”

    NUPENG had on June 1 asked the Federal Government to rehabilitate railways for petroleum haulage.

  • NLC seeks end to indiscriminate waivers

    •African govts ‘should prioritise security’

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Federal Government to review the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) so as to eliminate indiscriminate granting of waivers to importers who abuse such provisions in the Act.

     NLC faction President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the removal of such waivers would help boost manufacturing, as it would encourage the local production of goods  and address the instability in the foreign exchange.

    He said over the last decade, the Nigerian economy has grown impressively, but lamented that the economic statistics have never been in tune with the social reality, as unemployment and poverty soared to an unprecedented 23.9 per cent and 72 per cent, respectively in recent years. He added that it is apparent that the economy has grown without benefiting the people.

    He told The Nation that ending the country’s electricity woes, will require the new administration to develop a framework and strategy to deal decisively with smuggling as well as putting an end to counterfeiting made-in-Nigeria goods.

    “We demand a macro-economic policy regime that will address stability in the currency exchange regime, progressive tax administration and the management of the Customs and Excise duties in the manner that will promote local production of goods and services. We must bid goodbye to the destructive regime of duty waivers,” he said.

    Ajero urged President Muhammadu Buhari to concentrate his  efforts on expanding the frontier for job creation through value-added activities in agriculture, mining, mineral processing and industrial manufacturing.

    Ajaero pointed out that the growth and development of the real sector, and increased value addition in manufacturing, are critical for creation of  jobs, poverty elimination and for building a virile and sustainable economy.

    He urged the government to develop immediate framework and strategies to deal decisively with the hydra-headed challenge of smuggling, electricity failure, faking and counterfeiting of made-in-Nigeria goods.

    “Also, our effort to develop as a nation may not materialise except we resolve the lingering energy crisis in our country. As we have seen, privatisation has not in any way improved the supply of electricity to industries and homes across the country,” Ajaero said.

    According to him, this has led to factory closures and impoverishment of Nigerians. “This therefore, demands special attention to address the challenges of electricity supply in the country in particular and, in the immediate term, apply accelerated solution for industrial power needs,” he said.

    In a related event, NLC faction President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has urged African governments to make the issue of security a priority, especially in the east and west of the continent.

    Wabba made the call at the opening of a two-day annual meeting of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Africa Human and Trade Union Rights Network.

    The theme of the meeting is, “Insecurity and Threats to Peace in Africa and the Migration Challenges in Africa.” Wabba said armed conflicts and insurgency in Africa had assumed a new and dangerous dimension that no country could be said to be safe.

    ‘It is true that insurgency in Africa, particularly in the West African Sub-region and some parts of East Africa, has affected a lot of workers. In Nigeria, we have lost teachers and health workers because most of them live in the rural areas.

    “Therefore, if there is an attack by these insurgents, certainly the workers will be on the frontline so, we have lost a lot of them. It is time for African leaders to stand to up in unity and collaborate to end this menace,” he said.

    He said insurgency in Nigeria escalated due to a lack of political will to respond to the issue effectively when Boko Haram started, while the military was not initially strengthened to respond effectively.

    Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr Clement Illo, said government had developed a migration policy that would address the challenges of migration in a more coherent manner in Nigeria.

  • NASS crisis: Labour threatens mass action

    NASS crisis: Labour threatens mass action

    •Seeks prudent mgt of N400b

    Organised labour has threatened mass action against the National Assembly (NASS), if it fails to nip in the bud the leadership crisis bedevilling it.

    General-Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, who handed down the threat in Lagos, said labour would compel the lawmakers to do the work they elected to do.

    “The crisis seems to be getting out of hand and if the lawmakers fail to address it, labour will take a mass action,” Aremu said.

    Aremu, who is also the factional Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), charged President Muhammadu Buhari to deeply look into the crisis, while the lawmakers must also learn to be good leaders.

    He implored the Federal Executive and NASS to set a machinery in motion to review the 2010 minimum wage, adding that devaluation of the naira and inflation have eroded the value of the minimum wage.

    He said: “Indeed, minimum wage has become a starvation wage. In 2010, minimum wage was fixed at $120 per month. Today with devaluation, it is $81. 8, meaning that in real terms the minimum wage has fallen by 31.8 per cent’’.

    He expressed concern over the level of insecurity in the land and advocated the need for organised labour  to partner the Federal Government on ways  to tackle it.

    He advised Buhari to block all leakages and demand accountability from public officials.

    He also urged Buhari to take a second look at his proposed visit to America in the wake of incessant terror attacks in the country.

    He said Buhari should not follow the unhelpful roads of his predecessors who spent more time attending wasteful summits abroad while governance at home suffered.

    He said: “African leaders must definitely think global, but they must act local. They must implement the wish list of the African electorate not the agenda of foreign powers and donors who put us in mess in the first instance.

    “African Union (AU) needs original initiative in Africa not in Washington and Paris. We must act local and think global, not running around the globe instead of staying at home’’.

    Aremu praised Buhari for the intervention funds to states to settle accumulated workers’ salaries, saying that the gesture shows the latter is labour-friendly and sensitive with respect to payment of salaries.

    He, however, warned state governors against mismanaging the N400 billion given by the Federal Government to offset the backlog of salaries owed workers.

    He said the governors should ensure that they use the money judiciously since this was the first time the Federal Government was giving such an intervention fund.

    He said: “The governors should ensure that the money is used for what it is meant for. They should be prudent and live as debtors. They should live within their means. It is unacceptable that governors live on bail out, yet fly around with chartered aircraft, behaving like kings. “The state governors must partner the Federal Government to re-industrialise their states. Governors must depend on companies and personal income taxes not oil money bail out. The Governors Forum must declare state of emergency on industrial revival’’.

    NLC’s General Secretary, Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson, said appropriate measure should be taken for the pay back of the bailout, adding that the intervention, no doubt, was a gesture that will go a long way in enabling the states to discharge their obligations to the citizenry.

    Also, President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, expressed strong reservations about the total liquidation of the excess crude account, stressing that it would have kicked against the bailout but for its mindfulness of the pains of millions of workers and their families who would benefit from it.

    “The move is tantamount to eroding and eating up the future of unborn generations. But we shall allow it because of the innocent workers and their dependants and on the condition that sufficient arrangements are made to guarantee early repayment of the money by the states,” he said, asking, “How can a governor who is also head of a family owe workers up to 10 months salary in a country where there is no price control?’’

    He insisted that such laxity is totally unacceptable, and a typical example of man’s inhumanity to man.

    Kaigama warned that the Buhari administration must guard against the presence of fifth columnists in its midst so as not to give Nigerians any reason to regret voting it into power.

    “It appears some people in the administration are only there for themselves, their families and cronies instead of working for the improvement of the lot of the people. The increasing spate of bomb explosions that have claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed property in the once peaceful North-Eastern part of the country, financial waywardness, profligacy, impunity and the awkward belief in business as usual must come to an end,” he said.