The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • Activist seeks legal review to encourage more women in unionism

    Activist seeks legal review to encourage more women in unionism

    President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin has advocated a legal review to encourage the participation of more women in unionism.

    She made the call in her paper titled: Mobilising women for active participation in trade union, which she presented at  the Sub-sahara Africa Regional Executive meeting of the Industrial Global Union in Lagos.

    She said the need for women to be active in trade unionism could not be over-emphasised because they are in better position to speak on gender issues than men.

    She said: “It is also important that a  fair distribution of family responsibilities is essential if women are to be mobilised to take up positions of responsibility in trade unions. This will involve a change in attitude from both men and women. Lastly, the use of quotas can be a double-edged sword because parity in law does not necessarily lead to parity in practice.”

    She also said women organisations and groups could create more awareness on issues affecting women in the work place and provide women with effective representation in a union.

    According to her,  women organisations can facilitate mobilisation and organisation of women workers, monitor gender parity in employer and worker organisations as well as provide educational opportunities for women in organising and workers’ right.

  • NITDA targets 300,000 jobs

    NITDA targets 300,000 jobs

    Acting Director-General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Ashiru Daura, has said his agency hopes to create about 300,000 jobs in the next three years.

    This, he said, could be achieved through harnessing the information and technology outsourcing.

    Daura, who spoke at the second national outsourcing conference organised by NITDA, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology in Abuja, said IT outsourcing had not been explored for addressing unemployment.

    He said: “The state of unemployment in the country, which is given at 23.9 per cent of the total population by the National Bureau of Statistics as at May 2013 is very disturbing.

    “This level of unemployment is disheartening, especially when we have not explored the opportunities IT outsourcing presents to us.

    “It is our resolve to support Mr President on this agenda by creating an enabling environment for providing job opportunities for our teeming youths through the use of IT enabled services.’’

    He added: “Nigeria, with her enormous human resources and endowed skills, should be seen at the top of the ladder in providing ICT solutions and outsourcing opportunities.

    “Our aim is to be the market hub of outsourcing in Africa and provide over 100,000 jobs annually for our teeming unemployed youths in the next three years.”

  • Group decries NIS’ N1000 recruitment fee

    Group decries NIS’ N1000 recruitment fee

    A GROUP Progressive Leadership Organisation International has decried the collection of N1, 000 application fee from job seekers by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).

    Its President Mr Emmanuel Ezueme, said this was ilegal, adding that it it violates the job seekers’ right.

    The Minister of Interior, Mr Abba Moro, directed the agency to collect the amount to reduce the cost of processing application letters.

    He said also that the consulting firm in charge of the recruitment had the backing of the ministry and the Federal Character Commission.

    In a statement, Ezueme said: “Labour condemns it because it is not a good policy.

    “The policy was atrocious, repressive and indefensible. How can you do that when Section 16 of the Constitution clearly states that the security and welfare of the people is the primary function of government?

    “So, if the government is collecting money from young Nigerians seeking employment, the private sector will be encouraged to implement such policies.”

    Last month, the House of Representatives directed the Immigration to refund the fee.

    The Joint Committee on Public Service Matter, Employment, Labour and Productivity as well as Anti-corruption, National Ethics and Values, was mandated by the House to probe the racketeering of job placements in the public service.

    At the two-day public hearing, the committee decried the contravention of public service rules by the NIS, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), among others, on recruitment.

    The three agencies were asked to return, having failed to provide the committee with documents on the procedure for their recruitment.

    According to the report, the NIS provided conflicting documents, and failed to follow due process in its recruitment.

    A document showed that 2,005 people were employed in 2011, with another putting the figure at 2,550. Both documents, however, did not record the qualifications of the new employees.

    The House committee was shocked when the Secretary to the Board of Civil Defence, Fire Service, Immigration and Prison Service Board ( the body responsible for recruitment into those agencies), Sylvanus Tapgun, said he did not know the bank account into which fees realised from the sale of application forms was paid.

  • 5m jobs coming, says SMEDAN chief

    5m jobs coming, says SMEDAN chief

    No fewer than five million jobs would be created under the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) in the next three years, the Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN),Alhaji Bature Masari, has said.

    He spoke at the inauguration of the programme in Kaduna.

    His words: “The National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP), which is aimed at generating an estimated five million direct and indirect jobs between 2013 and 2015, is being implemented under three pillars.

    “Namely, the Technical/Vocational Skills Acquisition, Business Development Services (BDS)/Entrepreneurship Training and Access to Finance.’’

    According to him, the BDS component of the programme would be anchored under the One Local Government One Product Programme (OLOP), meant to revitalise the rural economy, by providing employment and alleviating poverty in rural areas.

    “Other benefits include the entrenchment of entrepreneurial culture, economic development, industrialisation of rural areas, industrial cluster development, increase Medium and small scale enterprises’ (MSMEs) contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), increase export potential, crime reduction, wealth creation and political stability.’’

    He said the project would be achieved through the establishment of sustainable MSMEs in the 774 local government areas based on csome omparative and competitive advantages.

    He said the agency had conducted needs assessment in 22 states, and was doing a baseline survey and value-chain analysis in six others across the geo-political zones.

    “At this level of the programme, cooperative societies and trade associations are being formed and registered, and assisted to develop bankable business plans as a prelude to access to finance, markets and machinery/equipment.

    “Over 1,000 cooperative groups and their business plans are currently being handed over to Bank of Industry (BoI) for appraisal and eventual financing, while thousands more are in the process of been finalised.,’ he added.

    In a message to the event, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga said the programme and others were aimed at ensuring economic growth and improvement in the standards of living.

    Aganga, who was represented by an aide, Mr Abi Mustapha, said the government was working towards increasing access to markets for small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) operators.

     

    He urged state governments to key into the programme so as to create job opportunities and improve the economy of the country.

    In his remarks, Gov. Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna State, charged the state SME board to ensure the success of the programme.

    Yero said it would help to move the nation forward, by enhancing the economy, reducing poverty and unemployment in the state.

    The governor said 1,200 unemployed graduates would be trained on developing business plans, adding that selected beneficiaries would be empowered to set up their businesses.

     

     

  • PENGASSAN: Local content law not working

    PENGASSAN: Local content law not working

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said the local content law signed by President Goodluck Jonathan to give indigenous oil and gas companies’ sense of belonging in the sector has not had meaningful impact on the oil and gas sector.

    Its National Executive Committee member, Mr Foluso Oginni, who spoke to reporters, said the country’s contracts in the oil and gas sector are dominated by the international oil companies leaving the crumbs for the indigenous ones.

    According to him, the international oil companies are violating their expatriate quota, giving them the opportunity to bring in various services, which can be taken care of by Nigerians.

    Oginni recalled the situations where some international oil companies brought in artisans from abroad, adding the development is a reflection that these companies have little or no regard for the content laws.

    He noted that the international oil companies flout the local content laws in connivance with corrupt immigration officials, which assisted them to bring in all manner of expatriates’ into the country.

    Oginni, while giving his support to the ongoing House of Representatives probe of major oil and gas companies for flouting the nation’s local content law, said the development would go a long way in curbing the companies’ excesses.

    He implored the lawmakers to also beam their searchlight on the activities of corrupt immigration officials, who assist the oil companies to make mess of the nation’s content law, explaining that doing so would enable the Federal Government and policy makers re-evaluate the import of the law with a view to enabling to achieve its set objectives.

    On the increasing crude oil theft in the country, he said the Federal Government has not demonstrated the required seriousness to nip the practice in the bud, wondering why the Federal Government with its security apparatus, continually raised the alarm over the helpless situation of the theft in the country.

  • Lagos urges union to embrace dialogue

    Lagos urges union to embrace dialogue

    Lagos State Government has urged its unions to embrace the option of dialogue as a means of resolving industrial dispute with the government.

    The state Commissioner of Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs Florence Oguntuase, gave the advice at the fifth Quadrennial state delegate’s conference of Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE), in Lagos.

    Oguntuase, who was represented by the assistant Director, Industrial Relations in the Ministry, Mrs Ismail Temitope, said the relative peace recorded in the state had been as a result of co-operation and understanding that ensued between the Government and Labour Unions.

    According to her, “AUPCTRE as a body of trade union in the state has contributed immensely towards harmonious industrial relationship, between the government and its workforce in terms of resourceful and valuable comments and suggestions from the executive members.”

    She said the government would continue to support all the Labour Unions within her ambit to maintain the industrial peace and harmony adding that the present administration is more concerned about welfare of staff so as to enable them carry out their task effectively.

    The newly elected Leader of the Union, Mr. Muali Subair, assured that the union would continue to work together with government to achieve a desirable atmosphere through constructive and objective dialogue.

    He said the success achieved by the Lagos State government wouldn’t have been possible without co-operation of the workers through the Union, which he promised would continued in the coming years as the administration have shown tremendous and commendable commitment to workers welfare.

    He added that Labour Unions are engines for development in the country, especially the Third World countries no matter the challenge saying that Labour continue to serve as partner in progress and catalyst that propel development in a legitimate way.

    Highlight of the conference include conferment of merit awards on some Nigerians, that have contributed in one way or the order to labour course in the state.

  • PEDAN accuses marketers of victimising members

    Petroleum Dealers’ Association of Nigeria (PEDAN) has accused oil marketers of victimising and coercing its members to make outrageous deposit for products, saying the act has led to the closure of many filling stations.

    The Secretary-General, Comrade Innocent Eze, in a letter to the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), a copy of which was sent to the Minister of Labour, said it has signed the implementation of the agreement but complain about the non copliance withbpayment of allotted rebate by the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to the dealers.

    He lamented that members have always been at the receiving end of the oil marketers who often undermine the interest of the dealers.

    He complained that the oil marketing companies have terminated the contracts of many of PEDAN members because of their inability to deposit amount of money demanded by the marketing companies.

    PEDAN also said they were being intimidated by demand for deposits which range from N10million to N30 million, depending on the capacity of the station, adding that the marketers equally  deny the members of the association the full payment of their approved rebate, and often retire prematurely any one that dares to challenge them.

    PEDAN charged that the allotment of adequate rebates to its members by  PPPRA would go a long way towards enabling its members to meet with the requirements of the collective bargaining to which both parties have reached agreement.

    Eze said PEDAN members are at a disadvantage meeting the responsibility of paying their staff, noting that even without the agreement, some of its members are paying above the stated figures.

    The association said the act has been detrimental to the operations of its members, and has forced PEDAN to soft pedal on the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) it earlier agreed with Petrol Station Workers (PSW), who are their employees and a branch of NUPENG.

    The association, however, promised to comply with the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the PSW branch of NUPENG, if its constraint are holistically addressed by the concerned parties.

    PEDAN, therefore, appealed to NUPENG to convene  a meeting of stakeholders to dialogue on the way forward to avert crisis in the sector, noting that most often, it is the dealers that suffer when there is industrial dispute.

  • Osun to empower 18,000 women

    Osun to empower 18,000 women

    The Osun State  government said it would empower 18,000 women from 30 local government areas with N600 million before December.

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Water Resources, Rural Development and Community Affairs, Mr Kunle Ige, said this at the disbursement of Grant-In-Aids to Community Development Association (CDA), in Ile-Ife Osun State.

    He said the administration had concluded arrangements with  Grooming Micro-Finance, Lagos, to offer a loan of N400 million and that the state would add the balance.

    Ige said 600 women would access the loans from the local government, enjoining the associations to organise their women into cooperatives to enable them to benefit from the facility.

    The aide said this would confirm the commitment of the administration both at the local and the state levels toward an overall development of the state.

    He said their local grant would increase from N3 million to N5 million next year, urging the beneficiaries to make the best use of the fund.

  • RTEAN seeks role in number plate pricing

    he Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) has called for access to the process of fixing the amount to be paid for number plates.

    Its President, Musa Isiwele Shehu, made the request in Abuja during RTEAN’s NEC meeting. In attendance was the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Osita Chidoka .

    Shehu requested for RTEAN to be included on the membership of the Joint Task Board (JTB), while calling for the old number plates to be traded in for new ones instead of outright change as proposed by the FRSC.

    He said: “If you want to fix the amount to be paid for the purchase of a new number plates, we the transporters need to be represented at the board and discuss the price together. This is because at the end of the day, it is the transporters that will purchase the number plates, so it is necessary that we also have representation on the board.

    “We are also appealing to the authorities to rather than outright change of the new number plate, it should be replaced with the old ones because we purchase the old ones with money, if they are producing new ones, they should collect the old ones and give us the new ones, if not their efforts would be in vein.”

  • Dip in oil production worries NUPENG

    Dip in oil production worries NUPENG

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has warned that the sudden drop by 42 per cent of the nation’s oil revenue portends dangers, lamenting that it will affect resources meant for development and upgrade of infrastructure

    In a statement by its National President, Comrade Igwe Achese, it said the drop was astronomical.

    He said: “NUPENG is worried about the sudden drop by 42 per cent of the nation’s oil revenue as it portends dangers as well as will further plummet and affect resources meant for development and upgrading of infrastructure”

    “We are more worried at sad commentary that the Federal Government gross revenue dropped by 42 per cent month-on-month to N497billion is as a result of disruption to oil production caused by thieves bursting pipelines.

    “The union stresses that its membership is dwindling daily as a result of downsizing by oil companies who are saddled with overhead arising from low oil production occasioned by oil thieves.”

    The labour leader who called on the government to muster the political will to address the incessant vandalism of pipelines traversing the nation, insisted that illegal bunkering has defied all solutions, even with the massive deployment of troops to the Niger-Delta.

    “NUPENG calls for a change of tactics in order to address these challenges or else these vandals will collapse the nation’s economy, as oil accounts for more than 90 per cent of our earnings.

    “ It is a high time government installed modern day sophisticated equipment installed with alarm that can trigger off during any vandalism,” he said.

    NUPENG wants a thorough surveillance of the nation’s pipelines through the deployment of helicopter gun-ships to monitor the pipelines, especially in the coastlines.

    “The Federal Government should collaborate with the advanced countries on the deployment of the best technology to stem the tide so that the economy does not go comatose,” he said.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described massive stealing of crude oil as a national embarrassment aided by people in authority and their cohorts.

    The NLC after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Kaduna State, where it warned that the act if not immediately checked, holds dire consequences for the country.

    “It is a national embarrassment that in spite of the assurances given by the government and the deployment of security armada in the Niger Delta region, crude oil theft is on the rise. The immediate effects are drastic reductions in oil production and receipts making it difficult for government to discharge its duties to the citizenry,” the NLC said.

    It maintained that top government officials, military officers, businessmen, politicians with their local and foreign collaborators were responsible for crude oil theft.

    The NLC also kicked against what it termed a resurgence of casualisation of workers in the public and private sectors across the country. It said the practice induces slave labour, prostitution, psychological trauma and the violation of the rights of the workers, adding that the practice does not in any way stimulate productivity.

    The communiqué jointly endorsed by NLC President Comrade Abdulwahed Omar and Acting General Secretary Comrade Chris Uyot condemned the government’s inability to tackle corruption, reduce cost of governance and stem insecurity in the country.