The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • Recycling alliance in symbolic ocean clean-up to mark world’s ocean day

    Recycling alliance in symbolic ocean clean-up to mark world’s ocean day

    Members of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, FBRA, have held a symbolic beach cleanup exercise to commemorate this year’s World Ocean Day. 

    Led by the current chair, Ziad Maalouf, the beach cleanup, which took place at Elegushi Beach, Lagos, was adopted as a springboard for encouraging more sustainable practices around the country’s ecosystem. 

    With member-companies gathered, the beach clean-up exercise engaged attendees in a series of activities to remove plastic debris and other pollutants from the environs.

    FBRA’s participation in the global commemoration models the company’s commitment to protecting and preserving the environment from post-consumer packaging material. In step with the alliance’s mission,  FBRA is placing priority on influencing the management of plastic waste and the environmental footprints of entities across the food and beverage industry.

    Speaking at the event, Maalouf, the chairman of the Alliance and Managing Director at SBC Nigeria, said: “the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step – and the journey to a green Nigeria starts with cleaning one spot. This beach clean-up event is in alignment with our commitment to environmental stewardship in Nigeria. Our environment holds the fabric of our society together, and our dependence on it is undeniable. We must move from a linear economy to a circular economy that protects and drives profit within the Nigerian economy. This involves creating investments for a sustainable future, working with local recyclers, and preserving the profit from those streams within the country.”

    One of FBRA’s key foci is to further the industry’s alignment with the NESREA operational guidelines for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as well as the United Nations’ sustainable development goals to address climate action, life on land, life below water, responsible consumption and production, and other pressing themes.

    Read Also: Bottling company affirms commitment to cleaner environment, recycling

    Since 2012, members of the FBRA have set ambitious goals to support the circular economy and enhance its recycling infrastructure. By actively participating in FBRA and other industry initiatives, members aim to lead by example and inspire collaborative action for a sustainable future.

    The Executive Secretary of the FBRA, Agharese Onaghise, who emphasised the importance of collaboration in tackling waste management and pollution, said: “Members of the FBRA have joined forces to address these issues as part of their extended producer responsibility. This event is aligned with the global theme of this year’s World Environment Day “Solutions for Plastic Pollution” as a driver to collectively address the menace of plastic pollution. We are excited to have 29 members of the FBRA from the food and beverage industry contributing to solve the issues that affect our environment and ourselves,  supporting the collection of the post-consumer waste. We must continue to encourage these practices, ensuring they become ingrained in our culture.”

    Member-companies represented at this year’s beach cleanup included SBC Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Breweries Plc, The LaCasera Company Plc, Nestle, Guinness Nigeria Plc, CHI Limited, UAC Foods, Nigerian Bottling Company, CWAY Foods, Prima Corporation Limited, International Breweries Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc, and Tetrapak West Africa.

    The Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) is a non-profit industry collaboration platform set up in 2018 by a Memorandum of Understanding with the objective to galvanise responsible players in the food and beverage industry to support and scale up post-consumer waste collection, buyback schemes and recycling programmes. The Alliance is poised to implement exemplary programmes, which will help preserve our environment, ignite innovation, create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for repurposing of packaging waste.

  • Nigeria, others in Geneva for International Labour Conference

    Nigeria, others in Geneva for International Labour Conference

    Nigeria’s delegates across the three tripartite system of government, employers’ group and organised labour are among the 187 member-states participating at this year’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) 111 International Labour Conference (ILC), which kicked off on June 5 and end on June 16.

    The yearly event of the ILO returns in full swing this year with more delegates, unlike last year, when delegates were streamlined due to construction at the United Nations’ Palais, venue of the event.

    Worker, employer and government delegates from the ILO’s 187 member-states are expected to tackle issues that have a long-term impact on the world of work, including: a second standard-setting discussion on quality apprenticeships, a recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of social protection (labour protection).

    Read Also: Nigeria wins UN Economic, Social Council seat

    The ILO noted that there would also be a proposed Convention and Recommendation concerning the partial revision of 15 international labour instruments, following the inclusion of a safe and healthy working environment in the ILO’s framework of fundamental principles and rights at work.

    A World of Work Summit will equally takes place on June 14 and 15. Its theme is “Social Justice for All”.

    According to the ILO, this will be a forum for global voices to address the need for increased, coordinated and coherent action in support of social justice.

    “It will provide an opportunity to discuss the Global Coalition for Social Justice initiative, which was welcomed by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office at its 347th Session in March 2023,” the global body stated.

  • Fuel subsidy removal will unlock N6tr yearly, says NECA

    Fuel subsidy removal will unlock N6tr yearly, says NECA

    • Praises Tinubu administration

    The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has supported President Bola Tinubu-led administration’s removal of fuel subsidy, saying it could unlock over N6 trillion in revenue yearly.

    Its Director-General, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, in a statement, said the fuel subsidy over the years had neither served the interest of the average Nigerian nor promoted enterprise’s sustainability, growth and competitiveness.

    He said: “NECA commends the policy thrust of the new administration as enunciated by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during his inaugural address.

    “Some of the key issues raised that were germane to the survival of organised businesses and the economy at large include the plan to unify the exchange rates, review of multiplicity of taxes, strive towards a higher GDP growth rate; improving accessibility and affordability of electricity, investment in infrastructure, establishment of agricultural hubs, deepening engagement with Organised Private Sector and removal of fuel subsidy.”

    Oyerinde emphasised that fuel subsidy removal could unlock huge revenue, which could be channelled into infrastructure development.

    Read Also: NECA flays govt’s fiscal policies

    He added that reports had shown that less than three per cent of Nigerians (the super-rich) benefited from the subsidy regime, advising the government that efforts at providing short-term palliatives should be fast-tracked in view of their urgency.

    The NECA chief also argued that of greater interest to organised businesses was the implementation framework to drive the policies and level of engagement that will be initiated with the private sector by the new administration.

    He said  while the call for palliatives and other short-term interventions were valid, experiences over the years had shown that short-term solutions such as the provision of mass transit and cash transfers, as proposed with the $800 million loan, among others, were shallow and not sustainable.

    He said: “While the President’s announcement during his inaugural speech that the era of fuel subsidy is gone was met with varied reactions from different stakeholders, the reality remains that the removal is no more sustainable in the face of the nation’s dire financial situation.

    “The $10 billion (over N4 trillion at the official rate) spent on subsidy in 2022, which is about 25 per cent of the national budget for that year, and the $7.5 billion (N3.5trillion) budgeted for subsidy from January to June, this year is obviously not sustainable in view of our revenue and debt challenges.

    “The announcement by the President triggered the hoarding of petroleum products and inflationary pressures with negative consequences such as increase in fares and the upsurge in prices of goods and services, among others. These pressures will, in the short-term, further erode the purchasing power of average Nigerians, increase the input, operating, and production costs for organised businesses and, if not urgently checked, would result in heightened contraction in domestic production and business activities,” Oyerinde concluded.  

  • CISLAC to Fed Govt: tackle fraudulent regime in fuel pricing

    CISLAC to Fed Govt: tackle fraudulent regime in fuel pricing

    The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on the Federal Government to tackle fraudulent regime in fuel pricing which is  common with elite manipulations and intrigues in the sector for fuel subsidy removal to be effective.

    CISLAC Executive Director and Head, Transparency International-Nigeria, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, also called on President Bola Tinubu to introduce palliatives and measures to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal which would address the food and transport costs for Nigerians.

    The CISLAC boss noted the government needed to come up with  short-term measures that would mitigate the pains of the sharp increases in transportation and feeding costs on the citizens, adding that food and transportation account for over 70 per cent of the household budget of the populace, noting that something urgent needed to be done.

    According to him, arguments for the removal of fuel subsidy had always bordered on a need to free resources and take needed measures towards long-needed reform, as the cost has become unsustainable, especially as the economy hovers in and out of recession.

    “The deregulation (subsidy removal) agenda is part of what is contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA),” he said.

    He noted that a report by the House of Representatives committee revealed that Nigeria’s fuel subsidy scheme cost the country $6.8 billion over a three-year period (2009-2011). He added that the NNPCL was single-handedly responsible for almost half of the siphoned subsidy funds and was found not to be accountable to anybody or authority.

    “The report revealed that 72 fuel importers, some of whom had allegedly close links to senior government officials, were also singled out. In one case, payments totalling  $6.4million flowed from the state treasury 128 times within 24 hours to unknown entities. Investigators discovered that importers were paid for 59 million litres a day, while the country only consumes 35 million.

    Read Also: Conflict prevention: CISLAC urges journalists to adopt early warning reporting

    “In 2012, the pump price of fuel was N65 ($0.40) per litre, against a landing cost of N139. The government thus contributed a N73 subsidy per litre, for an annual total of N1.2trillion ($7.6billion), or 2.6 per cent of the country’s GDP,” he said.

    He noted that  the Nigeria Extractive Industry and Transparency Initiative said Nigeria spent about N722.3 billion on fuel subsidy in 2018.

    “The NNPCL’s financial and operations report for 2019 showed that Nigeria spent N326.43 billion in four months (N104.35 billion, N102.24 billion, N30.64 billion and N89.19 billion in January, February, March and April) in 2019,” he said.

  • Lagos to promote 4000

    Lagos to promote 4000

    The Lagos State Civil Service Commission has ended activities for the promotion of 4000 of its workers.

     The event had as its theme “Year 2023 Promotion Exercise Revised Structured Training Programme.”

    Speaking on Day Two of the events on Wednesday, the Chairman of the Commission, Mrs Regina Olubunmi Fabamwo, explained that the exercise was only for the eligible staff members between Grade Level Six and 10. She listed the conditions fr eligibility as maturity, clean records, performance, and attendance at the training, among others.

    The lucky staff members, who were over 400, were drawn from ministries such as Justice, Information and Strategy, Education, Physical Planning and Urban Development.

    Mrs. Fabamwo, Fellow, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), said the main objective of the exercise was to make the workers aware of the new role ahead of them. She said it was introduced in 2019 by her team to let those to be promoted to know that there is a great responsibility ahead and that they were being prepared for it to boost their productivity. So far, she averred, the programme has been a huge success.

    She said it was for this her team tagged the commission the ‘Awakening Commission’ to help the workers some of whom might not know to do things differently and achieve results, adding that they continue to improve on the training.

    Read Also: NPA converts Lagos port to Africa’s logistics hub

    She said the responsibility of the commission is to promote a disciplined workforce guided by the core values of transparency, fairness and integrity, among others. She assured the workers of their commitment to quality service delivery and that the commission was established to serve them as “No civil servants, No Civil Service Commission. We do the best for the service.”

    Mrs. Fabamwo said Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was interested in the workers’ welfare and that is why those due for promotion every three years, are not denied by the commission.

    Congratulating the workers, she tasked them on the actualisation of the administration’s six strategic development agenda, namely, Traffic Management and Transportation, Health and Environment, Education and Technology Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy, Entertainment and Tourism (THEMES) as well as Security and Governance (THEMES) and better services to the people.

    A facilitator at the training, Tajudeen Ekunsumi, said building a smart city as being championed by the state government requires that all hands must be on the deck. He charged the workers to be alive to their responsibility. He noted that the government relies on them for the prosecution of its agenda. He said over the years, the government has been focusing on infrastructural development. As a result, its budget is being tuned more towards capital expenditure instead of recurrent expenditure which had been taking a large chunk of its expenses.

  • Picketing by NUBIFIE: Polaris Bank recommits to staff welfare

    Picketing by NUBIFIE: Polaris Bank recommits to staff welfare

    Polaris Bank has clarified that it did not violate any law in a recent disengagement of some members of staff.

    It said it was done in line with the terms of the contract guiding their engagements

    The bank was reacting to a report of the picketing of its headquarters on Tuesday by National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFE) by some newspapers.

    The bank, in a statement signed by Group Head, Brand Management & Corporate Communication, Nduneche Ezurike, said it had engaged and would continue to engage the union to resolve any lingering labour matters.

    Read Also: Polaris Bank advocates savings culture for kids

    The bank emphasised that a cordial relationship has existed between her and the union over the years, and believes that concerns raised by either party can be effectively addressed through dialogue.

    “Polaris Bank remains committed to fostering a harmonious working relationship and ensuring the well-being of its employees,” he said.

  • ‘Tinubu shouldn’t see workers as enemies’

    ‘Tinubu shouldn’t see workers as enemies’

    Comrade Peter Adeyemi, a unionist and educator, is the General Secretary, Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU). In this interview with TOBA AGBOOLA, he canvasses the need for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to work with workers.

    COULD you acces the last administration and set  agenda for the new government?

    Well, I think that if you look at the eight years of the immediate past administration, there were some benefits. Let me start from the benefits before I begin to criticise it. One, the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration did well in the payment of salaries. It was consistent and I didn’t see that in any administration in the past. Yes, it was very consistent and even as Buhari was leaving, he had not failed in this. Two, he refused to retrench.

    As the General Secretary of the union, these are very important. And  if you look at the immediate past administration, it had a lot of minuses. But because he didn’t downsize, was consistent in the payment of salary and he didn’t give in to rationalisation, you have to give him and his team kudos.

    But the immediate past administration left Nigeria poorer than it met it..

    Yes, the past administration butchered the take-home pay of workers because it devalued our currency. The currency is one of the worst in the world. For instance, I was in Casablanca, Morocco recently, where I changed our currency, I discovered that theirs is far stronger.

    So, when you bastardised your currency, you reduced the benefits. What was the exchange rate when the government took over from Jonathan. It was not up to N200 to a dollar, but today, it is above N750. Nothing seems to be working.

    Take, for instance, privatisation in the power sector. It has also failed. They used our money to rehabilitate it. And we see this as a deliberate step to steal public assets by those in public office. And, today, there is no adequate power supply. The bills keep rising and we are paying for darkness.

    So, it is a deliberate stealing of public assets by those in public office, and that is why I laughed when the government said it is fighting corruption.

    President Tinubu must work with us and should not see labour as enemies or antagonists. He shouldn’t mind any issue he has with the Labour Party. Labour Party is on its own. The Nigeria Labour movement is on its own. Even though the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) adopted the Labour Party, he should not get discouraged. Don’t forget that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees freedom of association. So, if the Labour Party is adopted, it does not translate that every worker must belong to the party. That is the pronouncement of the NLC and TUC, so be it.

    In my union, I did not force them to belong to a particular union because there is freedom of association. I will be denying them their constitutional right if I should force them. I must have the resolution of my NEC before I can do anything. So, President Tinubu should embrace labour because he will need our support. He will need the support of the civil service and public service workers.

     How about the minimum wage?

    I participated in the negotiation of the national minimum wage about three times during Presidents’ Obasanjo, Jonathan and Buharis’ administration.

    In fact, Comrade Ayuba and Kaigama and I,  went to the Presidential Villa to meet with President Buhari before the negotiation was concluded. The late Chief of Staff took us to the President. We had a discussion with him. Today, what is the worth of the minimum wage? It has not even being paid by many states. Workers in our states are poorer because they don’t earn the minimum wage.

    In about 12 states, they earn below the minimum wage. And the minimum wage itself is worthless.. Today, N30,000, which is the minimum wage, is less than $50. This should tell you what an average Nigerian worker is going through. He has to pay for electricity which as become worst. He has to pay for transportation, he has dependants etc.

    Under the past administration, it went from bad to worse because you didn’t pay adequate salary, you couldn’t guarantee regular power, you have to use that peanuts that you are earning to buy petrol to power your generator.

    How did we get to this level?

    The problem is that everything has been politicised Politics, to me, basically, is about deceit and it has nothing to do with helping the masses.

    Someone said the load of funding tertiary institutions is too heavy for the Federal Government. Can you imagine such a statement from a leader? And he said the Federal Government should stop funding the tertiary institutions. So, you ask yourself, what will the government be doing? So, if you can’t fund education, what he is saying is that it should be handed over to the private, which to us, is unacceptable. Every body in the leadership has a responsibility to the citizens.

    You know why, education is very important. It is the transformative instruments of the society. Because this generation will go and with sound education, the  incoming generation will be stronger, will be wiser, will be more educated, and they are more sophisticated intellectually, and are going to correct the deficiencies of the past.

    Read Also: Tinubu: A new deal for Nigeria

    So, if we don’t invest in education, we are going to have a situation where it is the children of those who have amassed wealth, illegitimately or otherwise that will continue to dominate our system and shut out the children of the poor. We are where we are because our leaders, most especially politicians, lied to Nigerians and it was a deliberate arrangement.They lied about turning Nigeria to the best country and because our people are gullible, they fell into the trap. This is the plight of the Nigerians.

    What is your reaction to the debt burden?

     Debt should not be an issue. Obasanjo had the same problem, but he was able to solve it. Don’t forget that the new President is not a novice when it comes to finance. More importantly, he should avoid borrowing. All the outgoing government did was that any time they needed money, they borrowed. President Tinubu should also conduct proper investigation on the money we have borrowed. We are already crossing the red line. So, Tinubu will have to use his wealth of experience to address this. They have to check the excesses of our lawmakers.The humongous payment. We have to look into that and other loopholes. I know the new President knows how to do that. The debt on ground should also be restructure in a way that it will not affect a common Nigeria.

    Does the govt honour its agreements?

     We have been subjected to the worst policy so far. The government is guilty of not honouring agreement. If it signs an agreement, it doesn’t honour it. When we entered into an agreement, the first thing is to show it to our members. But when after months or years, it is not fulfilled, it makes you look like a fool in front of your members. The government is good at signing MoUs and it is also good at not fulfilling. And, honestly, I still want to give kudos to the outgoing Minister of Labour and Productivity.  You must understand unionism before you take decisions. There are some conditions you have to take into consideration before you go on strike. It is backed by laws. The trade union is like an ant compared to the Federal Government.  There was a time the minister told us that our strike was illegal. I wrote him back to say that our strike was legal and has legal backing.

    How about the IPPIS payment platform?

    We have negotiated several times when the Office of the Accountant-General was summoned, as well as the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) director over what we pointed out as the inadequacies. But there was one negotiation where the minister said one of the staff members in his ministry had not collected salaries for months. So, what it means is that the problem of IPPIS is general. We are not the only union complaining.

    ASUU proposed a new platform, but they did not involve us (NASU and SSANU). And we made them understand that they cannot impose that on us. So, we came up with our platform and they were taken for integrity test. In the process of evaluating it, NASU and SSANU platform came first. But the government is not ready to use the union’s platform. We are still on it because it’s like a tragedy.  Fundamentally, the most important thing is that we were able to fight for our right through strike , as a result of government refusal to honour agreement. We are forced to embark on this strike. We suspended the strike at the end. However the issue of no-work-no pay did go well with us. They said that they will not pay us the four months. After all, it was the Government that did not honour agreement.If you fail to honour  agreement, do you expect us to fold our hands. This is injustice against humanity. Government should pay us the four months. If there is injustice , there will continue to be strike.

    What is the way out?

     You see, you don’t even need to wage war on corruption. If you are able to fix some of these things, people will be afraid to even see or cut corners. When your currency is strong, it will have value when you take it to market or wherever or whatever you buys. No matter how small , it will be able to buy sufficient things. Your currency must be strong to be able to achieve all these. So that whatever you pay your workers will have value. Two, public utilities must be stable. They must be fixed. You must have a running public transport system that is working. We travel outside the country and we know how it works. We don’t have a good public system.

    The problem of insecurity. How many Nigerians have lost their lives. The problem of insecurity has taken its toll on the Nigerians. The problem has been there since the Jonathan administration.

    They are even threatening the Presidency. This is ridiculous. The problem is still there and no where is save.

  • Labour will insist on good governance, says group

    Labour will insist on good governance, says group

    The International Centre for Tax Research and Development (ICTRD) has  called on Nigerians to demand accountability, transparency and good governance in the administration of taxes.

    The group said this could be achieved by adopting a model constitution which would guide the citizen’s right.

    At a meeting in Lagos,  a former Chairman of Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, Mrs. Morenike Babington-Ashaye, who is also the convener of the meeting, said Nigerians needed to be more involved in governance.

    She said Nigerians should ensure that  structures, processes and procedures that could engender good governance were put in place.

    She also said Nigeria was endowed with natural and human resources and should no business with poverty.

    Her words: “We, the people of ABC, have a  responsibility to restore our past glory, empower our people, eradicate poverty, and create a wealthy nation. Never again shall we witness the destruction of our values, language, culture, resources, and the insecurity that has been caused by the action of coup d’état, and the manipulation of democratic governance through the vehicle of political parties.

    “We have taken it upon ourselves to serve our nation with all our might considering the same to be a national and civic duty using Citizenship as our political ideology and system of governance. Through this, we desire to achieve true democracy and eradicate nepotism, dictatorship, and oligarchy.”

    Read Also: ‘Don’t join labour market’

    Mrs. Ashaye went on:”We desire peace and prosperity for all our citizens and we forbid tyranny, slavery, oppression, intolerance, corruption, hate, and political instability. We want to achieve an honoured position in the world striving to be respected and contribute to the development of the world.

     “We have carved out for ourselves a political ideology that will enable us to guide our government and protect our interests and resources. Our sovereignty shall never again be taken away from us through representation by political parties.True democracy is a universal principle of mankind upon which this Constitution is founded. We give to ourselves equality of opportunities, justice, security, welfare, liberty, and peaceful co-existence”.

    Session Chairperson, Partner, Akinlawon & Aiomo, Titilola Akinlawon (SAN), said transparency and accountability were two important words that play a role in building trust in government at all levels.

    She expressed dismay that those who worked to change the status quo had met stiff opposition from political and economic actors whose business was to develop chaos and reap selfish rewards through national crisis.

    According to her, these negative actors were political, economic and social terrorists who shake the very structure that promotes good governance in any society.

    “These terrorists exist all over the world and they plant themselves in countries that are rich in natural resources. They corrupt the people in power by engaging them in flamboyant plans for development from which these terrorists are the beneficiaries. It is only the strong will of the people that can destroy them or put them back to where they belong, she said.

  • Dangote Refinery hope for decent work, industrialisation

    Dangote Refinery hope for decent work, industrialisation

    The inauguration of the 650,000 barrels per day (BPD) Dangote Oil Refinery by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday has been described as the most singular positive development narrative- changer for Africa since independence and end of colonialism.

    The Director-General, Micheal Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS),  Comrade Issa Aremu, stated this in a statement.  

    Congratulating the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, on the inauguration of the $19.5 billion refinery, Aremu observed that the historic event had further confirmed Dangote as Africa’s consistent industrialiser, who has shown that there is a long but rewarding walk to its re-industrialisation and growth.

    “Undoubtedly the richest man on the continent, but what increasingly marks Dangote out is his consistent commitment and trade mark of value addition and beneficiation to the abundant raw materials on the continent and creation of much-needed mass employment for African workers,” Issah said.

    He said Dangote Group of Industries was fast-changing the narrative of the continent from that of ‘resource curse’  to resource beneficiary, value addition and mass employment through industrialisation.

    Issa said opening the refinery on the eve of the inauguration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,  has renewed        hope of posterity and mass job creation.  

    “The point cannot be overstated. The future of Africa lies in industrialisation, which means the process of transforming raw materials, with the aid of labour and capital goods, into consumer goods and capital new capital goods. The advantages of industrialisation include, creation of sustainable mass decent jobs, lessening of dependency on imports, thus saving scarce foreign exchange and enhanced government revenue through company taxes,” he said.

    Aremu called for a robust partnership for politics of development  among governments at all levels, private sector and organised labour, adding that the Dangote Refinery shows that Africa’s development renaissance lied in cooperation and participation.

     He said the refinery, when fully operational, would make positive impact as it would provide sustainable decent jobs.

  • ASCSN to Fed Govt: make workers’ interest top priority

    ASCSN to Fed Govt: make workers’ interest top priority

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged the Federal Government to ensure that the protection of the rights of workers is made top priority, particularly in policy formulation, social protection and provision of quality infrastructure.

    Its President, Tommy Etim Okon, in an interview, stressed that the relevance of workers could not be over emphasised as their impact is felt in the formal and informal sectors.

    Okon described the labour force as the engine that drives a nation, stating that their interest must be protected for Nigeria to attain economic prosperity.

    He urged the incoming administration to address the plight of workers, harping on infrastructure, security, provision of basic social amenities and formulation of worker-friendly policies.

    “The government needs to come up with a policy that enforces continuity of infrastructure development. In most cases, you discover that some governments would abandon the project of previous administration to start a new one. When there is continuity and sustenance in infrastructural development, Nigeria would develop faster,” he explained.

    Okon stressed that the government needed to pay attention to the productive economy and stem insecurity.

    “The incoming government must not be sectional in addressing issues or just paying lip service to security matters. This is because wherever there is security of life and properties, there will be economic prosperity,” he opined.

    In addition, he stated that that social security must be guaranteed for workers up to the extent where their offspring could benefit.

    According to him, “The offspring of the workers must benefit in terms of free and compulsory education. Because when there is free education for them, the worker would not be bothered on how to raise money for his children’s education, thereby giving him the opportunity to become more productive.

    In policy formation, Okon advised that the government to avoid policies that are alien to Nigeria, but rather design and implement policies that would conform to the local clime and provide workable solution to Nigeria.

    He added that Nigerians were not asking for too much as they are very hardworking and productive, if given the conducive economic environment. “Tame insecurity and provide them with the basic amenities, give them what they need, and the informal economy would boom,” he said.

    “The government cannot give jobs to everybody. What they need to do is to create an enabling environment and a lot of people would be gainfully employed,” he added.

    As part of its commitment to improving businesses and workers’ welfare, Okon noted that the ASCSN  has been in the fore of social dialogue with the government as it played a viable role in the recently implemented 40 per cent special allowance for workers.

    “When the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) led the CWC members to meet with the president last year, it was discovered that there was a huge gap between other agencies of government and the core civil servants in terms of the pay package. The government decided to set up a Presidential Committee on Harmonisation to bridge that gap. Hence the 40 per cent peculiar allowance,” he explained.

    He said the allowance was encouraging to workers, advising the incoming government to take a cue from such positive actions that advance workers’ interests, especially with the negotiation of pay rise next year.