The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • Telecoms union: don’t make calls on the wheels

    The National Union of Post and Telecommunications Employees (NUPTE) has warned  against using the mobile while driving.

    At a  campaign to sensitise workers and commuters at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, the union said the increase in the number of deaths through accidents was a result of drivers using phones while driving, which is a serious cause for concern.

    President of NUPTE Comrade Sunday Alhassan, who addressed reporters during his union’s procession, said as workers who provide telephone services, his members decided to contribute their quota in the fight against preventable crashes.

    “Nigerians should not make calls, text or ping while driving. Don’t ping your life away because it is very easy to lose concentration while using the phone and the result is usually irreversible,” he cautioned.

    Assistant Corps Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Ngozi Imoroa, who led a team of officers of the commission to join the union’s campaign, said the commission would continue to enforce the law against using the phone while driving, urging Nigerians to quit the habit.

  • Power firm worried over harassment of staff

    The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has decried the spate of harassment and violent attacks on its members of staff on official duty in some communities in Lagos.

    The company’s Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Godwin Idemudia said the company will not tolerate any molestation, harassment or violent attacks perpetrated by anybody or group of people against its staff while performing their legitimate duties.

    He said some individuals and communities are in the habit of attacking EKEDC staff to evade payment of electricity bill or disconnection for non-payment. He cited  a retired Army officer in  Lagos, who attempted to shoot one of the company’s staff that was in his house to ascertain whether the house had paid its electricity for the month.

    According to him, the case has been lodged with the police and investigations have started, adding that the company would pursue the case to a logical conclusion through diligent prosecution of the perpetrator in court. He urged members of the public who have complaints on the conducts of any staff of the company to report to the business district or company’s headquarters instead of taking the law into their hands.

    He explained that the company is doing everything to ensure that the customer is treated with utmost respect and esteem, but will not hold back from protecting the rights of its staff to perform their legitimate duties unhindered and unimpeded as guaranteed by law.

  • NTDC harps on staff welfare

    The Director-General, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo, has described members of staff of the corporation as the core stakeholders in Nigeria’s tourism industry. She pointed out that neglect of the workers was why the tourism master plan never worked.

    She stated this at the corporation’s staff retreat in Abuja. Mrs Mbanefo said: “Why all the tourism master plans we have been having in the country did not work is that they abandoned the staff, and pay no or less attention to the welfare of the staff, that are going to drive the project and direct the strategic imperative of the organization.

    “I appreciate the fact that staff of the NTDC, the implementers of the corporation’s strategic imperatives, are the core stakeholders in the industry, hence, they must be well equipped and practically made ambassadors of Nigeria’s tourism industry to drive development in the industry. We must feed the goose that lays the golden egg.

    “As a result, capacity building and staff welfare are the priority on my agenda in repositioning Nigeria’s tourism industry and promoting domestic tourism in the country. And this, I will execute to the letter.

    “Following our Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gambia Tourism Board, 20 NTDC staff will be going for an exchange programme in Gambia on customer care, public relations, health and safety, administration, management, and project management. Meanwhile, the Gambia Tourism Board are inviting tourism specialists from Netherland to imbibe our staffs with tourism best practices,” she said.

    The retreat, she said, was organisd to enlighten the staff on how to generate revenue, as well as to strengthen their capacity for enhanced service delivery.

    On her activities in the first year in office, Mrs Mbanefo said: “We want all Nigerians to recognize the importance of tourism; that is why we used the first year of our administration to create awareness and agree on implementable policy framework that would make it possible for the country to harness the potentials that abound in the tourism sector.

    “Staff will be locally trained on how to involve the staff in revenue generation, and to have understanding of what role they have to play because they are my most important stakeholders in this tourism value chain.”

  • ‘Investment in youths will enhance productivity’

    The Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani  has called on the three tiers of government- the federal, states and local governments to target investment in skills development of the youth population as the best option to enhance their productivity in the labour market.

    He stated this while reviewing  how the post-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) framework would help to focus more local attention on improving the lives of the most vulnerable in the country.

    His words: “With the United Nations MDGs Acceleration Framework (MAF) focusing on decent work and reducing maternal mortality, targeting investment in skills, development of the youth population will enhance their productivity in the labour market.

    “There is urgent need of capturing youth education and skills training within a post-2015 agenda. This would be to take a youth unemployment target informed by indicators such as participation rates in youth vocational training and tertiary education enrolment.”

    According to him, considering the post-2015 development agenda, and the broad consensus that the current MDGs must not be sidelined, issues of poverty eradication should remain in focus while recognising the new global challenges a decade and a half on from the inception of this original framework.

    “The augmentation to the current framework would ensure an increased focus on enablers of economic development, but also update current targets such that they are relevant to a post-2015 world. It is more important to target improvements in secondary and tertiary education whilst incorporating practical and vocational skills,” he said.

    Smart social policies such as programmes that help the unemployed find jobs or systems that provide social security to vulnerable members of our society cannot just be considered a cost, he said, adding that they are investment in the future.

     

     

     

  • ASSBIFI seeks stronger industrial harmony

    The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has urged the Federal Government to ensure a stronger  industrial harmony for decent working conditions.

    Its National President, Comrade Sunday Salako who spoke on The needs for objective dialogue that would sustain industrial peace during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the association in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, said this was only the way growth and economic prosperity could be achieved.

    He said: “We call on the government of Nigeria to put in place policies that would ensure objective dialogue that would sustain industrial peace as no establishment can survive without a good rapport with its workforce.There should be a symbiotic relationship between employers and employees to ensure harmony of purpose where both parties get what they want.”

    Salako lamented that some employers of erroneously place more value on the work to be done and profit than on employees. He said: “We urged such employers to always take proactive measures to prevent conflicts between them and workers to degenerate before intervention for better relationship. Unionism is not about pay, but the dignity of labour. We should be the whistle-blowers in our organisations today,” he said.

    According to Salako, it is unfortunate that some organisations place less value on their workers who are part of their assets.

    “Management that often disrespects workers should know that  without workers there is no production. Workers are assets, but when most organisations list their assets, they exclude workers who are the most valuable assets of any organisation.

    “They are highly indispensable because workers are the engine that make organisations function,” he said.

    He also said labour unions were supposed to make organisations desirous of the unions which served as arteries of growth for both workers and organisations.

  • 4,000 casual workers get permanent jobs in Chinese firms

    NO fewer than 4,000 casual workers with some Chinese construction firms have got their appointments regularised.

    This folowed the 14-day ultimatum, which the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) gave to all the firms the country to regularise their appointments or face industrial action.

    Its President,Comrade Amechi Asugwuni said the union extracted the commitment of the firms to regularise the appointment of the employees at a meeting.

    He said: “We are pleased to announced that towards the expiration of our 14-day ultimatum, the union engaged the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) and CGC Nigeria Limited where agreement was reached as follows:-CCECC management and the union agreed that 3,000 casual workers would be converted and have their employment regularised; that 1,200 casual workers would be converted to permanent staff with appointment letters with immediate effect while 1,800 would have their employment regularised between August 1 and November 30, 2014.”

    The president said the names, location and state of newly converted workers would be forwarded to the Union Headquarters for verification and record purposes.

    Also, the group and CGC management agreed that 500 casual workers would be converted to permanent staff while 500 casual workers would be converted to permanent staff with appointment letters next month and November.

    Both CCECC and CGC also agreed with that they would continue to recognise the rights of workers to be unionism in all their operational sites in the country.

    The  Chinese construction firms also agreed to ensure full compliance with the implementation of the National Joint Industrial Council (NJIC) agreement, aside agreeing to continuously provide decent vehicle to convey workers to work in their sites.

    The workers also got a breather in safety and medical facilities, which formed part of the agitations of the union. Consequently, the management of CCECC and CGC agreed to sustain the standard of safety requirement/policy in all operational sites across the nation, as well as confirm the provision of First Aid Box in all operational sites and agreed to register with standard retainer’s hospital/clinic for the treatment of workers across the federation.

    It was agreed that both parties would reconvene in the first week of February next year to deliberate on the conversion schedule. Both parties agreed that failure to honour these agreements, the union would not give notice before declaring am strike.

    It said it would further press home its agitation against anti-labour practices in smaller Chinese construction and furniture industries in the country. It however, said the Central Working Committee of the Union (CWC) has directed that the intended nation-wide strike be suspended indefinitely to allow the full implementation of all that was agreed.

  • SURE-P rehabilitates skills acquisition centres

    TheSubsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) has completed the rehabilitation of eight Skills Acquisition Centres across the federation to create  employment opportunities for  unemployed youths.

    It was done through the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Project of SURE-P.

    Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, who spoke when he inaugurated the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity Skills Acquisition Centre, Bauchi, and Industrial Training Fund Centre of Excellence, Jos, said the ability of the government to continue to provide adequate and appropriate training for the nation’s  youths relied critically on the establishment of some form of sustainability.

    Wogu said: “The mandate of the TVET component of SURE-P is to reduce unemployment and poverty in Nigeria through skills acquisition as well as investing in technical/vocational training infrastructure to meet the changing technological needs in the production of goods and services. “This will enable our country compete favourably in international trade, thereby creating more employment opportunities for our teeming youths.”

    Wogu noted that over 5000 youths are benefiting from the TVET sponsored trainings in various vocations, such as ICT, electrical and mechanical engineering for the power sector, building and construction and automotive trades, among others.

  • NDE chief decries wasteful foreign trips by officials

    The Director-General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Malam Abubakar Mohammed has decried the frequent  foreign trips by public officers in the name of seminar or investment drive.

    Mohammed, who spoke when a delegation of Netherland African Business Council (NABC) led by its President, Mr. Cliff Ogbede paid him a visit in Abuja, said most offshore events do not help the country, adding that any forum that is targeted at growing the economy should be held in the country.

    He said: “We have interacted and made some observations and I said we have been to a lot of countries, I am asking whether it is not time for us to have a paradigm shift; that is for such a forum to take place in Nigeria.

    “What I did was to put it in a very simple way as a local man, and I told them that in my place, it is people who go to the market and not the market that comes to the people. So I am saying the market is here and no one should tell me there is no security in Nigeria. Over 160 million Nigerians are still here and are living, yes we have  challenges, every country has it, they should not say they can’t come to Nigeria, I don’t accept that.

    He said: “If I am going to the forum, I can at most go with two directors but however if it is taking place here, I can bring the entire state coordinators of the NDE and other interested stakeholders can also come and we will be seen in our strength and also our weakness and correct decisions will be made. But going out for a day or two, we might not have the capacity to take everyone along.

    “So, with our suggestion, we hope to see some changes because there are many of such associations. I am even wondering that all the places we have been to, what is the tangible result we brought or is it just to go and deliver papers?”

    Earlier, Ogbede informed Mohammed and top NDE management workers that the forum would help  small businesses and their Dutch counterparts access a 700 million euro fund provided by Netherland for Africa.

  • Doctors’ strike: Fed Govt urged to engage mediators

    The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) has advised the Federal Government to engage external mediators to resolve the crises between it and doctors in the public hospitals.

    The doctors, under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association, have been on strike for two weeks over failure by the government to meet their demands.

    Peeved by the doctors’ insistence on continuing with the strike after their negotiation team had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu had, during an interview with journalists in Abuja, called for a public debate with the doctors.

    He said: “That is why I said maybe we should have a high-powered debate before the public. Let each side state what their issues are, let’s take it one by one.”

    But the MDCAN President, Steve Oluwole, described the call for debate by the minister as a demonstration of frustration by the Federal Government. He said: “This is a novel proposal by the minister of health. It is of little use second-guessing while this unusual method of solving industrial dispute was proposed or contemplated. “The gallery of the public is unlikely to be sufficiently informed and grounded on the issues to play unbiased umpire between the minister and the NMA debater-in-chief. The theatre of debate may, however, not do either party much good.

    “While the frustration of the Ministry of Health in coming to a quick resolution of the problems is not difficult to perceive, it should not come to its wits end because of the decision of the delegate meeting of the NMA to continue with the strike,” he added.

    Oluwole noted that though the negotiating team of the NMA signed a MoU with government, the term of the agreement, according to him, was not acceptable to the majority of the doctors, which led to continuation of the strike. “There is, therefore, a very unfortunate impasse that is unlikely to resolve as long as both sides maintain their positions.

    Thus, a third MoU that will resolve differences appears a difficult objective to achieve,” Oluwole added.

    He therefore, advised that since the negotiation team had met twice without fruitful result, “bringing in external mediators may be helpful. Such mediators may include respected doctors who will bring their experience in administration and standing in the medical profession to bear on both sides. Without doubt, solution should be found within days not weeks for all sides to preserve their obligations to society.”

    Meanwhile, a fresh crisis is brewing in the primary healthcare sector where medical personnel are grumbling over alleged attempts to stagnate their professional growth at Level 16 as against Level 17 for others in the federal and state governments. The personnel argued that the ongoing review of the scheme of service for local government employees would put them at a disadvantage as it was skewed against doctors in the sector.

    In a statement by the Concerned Primary Health Care Physicians in Benin, the group said if the review was allowed to stay, it could discourage donor agencies, including UNICEF, WHO and others, from giving support to primary health care activities, especially as Nigeria is a signatory to the Alma-mata Declaration of Primary Health Care in 1978.

    “There is no evidence that the Federal Ministry of Health, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria and Association of Medical Officers of Health were consulted. In fact, the local government doctors were deliberately sidelined by the Local Government Service Commission and NULGE while other cadres like nurses and Community Health Practitioners Association were consulted,” they claimed.

  • SSANU warns against removal of minimum wage from exclusive list

    The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has warned  against the removal of the Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative list.

    It gave this warning in response to the just concluded National Conference recommendation that the Minimum Wage should be excluded from the Exclusive Legislative list.

    It also underlined its strong opposition to the scrapping of local governments as the third-tier of government, warning that any attempt to uphold these two recommendations will be met with a nationwide industrial actions.

    SSANU President, Comrade Samson Ugwoke, who addressed a press conference on the decision reached at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), said the Confab should also address other contentious issues in the constitution, including those that have not been adequately taken care of before now.

    Comrade Ugwoke said: “SSANU NEC-in-session commends the Federal Government for convening the National Conference and reiterates its position that the National Conference should address key issues of national unity, equity and justice.

    It should also address and accommodate issues that have been contentious in the constitution, including those that have not been adequately taken care of. ”

    The union advised that the Federal Government should address the recommendations of the conference  thoroughly, adding that  they should be those that will address fundamental issues relevant to the survival of Nigeria as a nation as well as enhance economic growth, peaceful co-existence and national security.

    “SSANU is strongly opposed to the removal of minimum wage from the Exclusive list and the scrapping of local government as the third tier of government. Any attempt to uphold these recommendations will be met with nationwide industrial actions,” Ugwoke said.