The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • NRC to recruit level crossing keepers

    The Nigerian Railways Corporation (NRC) is set to recruit more level crossing keepers to minimise rail accident.

    The corporation’s Director of Administration and Human Resources Mr Aminu Gusua, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    He said the NRC was about to hire new level crossing keepers to reduce the incidence of people being killed while crossing the rail line.

    He said there was also the need for public enlightenment on how to cross the rail line to minimise accident and death.

    Gusau said when the gate keepers are hired, they would be trained to meet the expectations of the reforms going on in the rail transport sector.

    He added that rail tracks would not be left unused after undergoing repairs, to forestall further damage.

    “That is why the corporation will soon start the recruitment of new workers to enhance rail service.

    “The more people with new knowledge and approach are employed, the better the service they will render,’’ he said.

    The director said with efficient service, the NRC would make more profit, especially in freight services

    He appealed to private business operators to patronise the corporation in transporting their goods across the country.

    Gusua said law enforcement agents would ensure adequate security of the goods and other luggage.

    “It is of essence to ensure adequate security of the goods because that is where the money is coming from.

    “We charge very low tariff on passengers because it is for affordability and comfort,’’ Gusua said.

    He said rail service would help to reduce the number of road accidents caused by articulated vehicles.

  • Civil servants seek holistic reform

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged the Federal Government to ensure a genuine restructuring of the civil service for an effective service delivery.

    Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, ASCSN’s Secretary General gave this advice this while fielding questions from reporters at an interactive session in Lagos.

    This advice is coming against the backdrop that the Federal Government was about restructuring the civil service. Head of Service, Alhaji Isa Sali, had given the hint at a strategic planning retreat for permanent secretaries and directors in Lagos that the Federal Government had called for a review of the vision and mission of the civil service.

    Lawal said only a genuine reform would help the government to achieve its planned review of the public service.

    “There should be new ideas to enhance capacity to deliver public services. Restructuring should not be a way to embezzle government fund.

    “In the past, consultants had used reform or restructuring to make money from civil service without any impact. It should no longer be like that,’’ Lawal warned.

    He lamented that civil servants, instead of reporting cases of corrupt enrichment they discover, usually turned the other way for fear of being sacked.

    The union’s scribe further warned of a nationwide strike or court action if Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State failed to reverse the appointment of a retired military officer as permanent secretary in the state.

    He said the appointment contravenes Section 282 Subsection 2 of the Constitution on appointment of civil servants.

    “The appointment of a retired military officer as permanent secretary breaches the provision of the constitution. You can only appoint qualified civil servants as permanent secretaries,’’ he said.

    He urged the governor to reverse the appointment in order not to promote the culture of impunity.

    Lawal said the union had invited the governor to a roundtable meeting without success.

    He added that civil servants in the state were disappointed about the appointment and the recent sack of their colleagues.

    About 22 Chief Inspectors of Education and 19 Local Education Secretaries were sacked recently for not being on their duty posts when the governor paid unscheduled visits to their schools.

  • Govt assures Nigerians of social protection

    Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Juliet Ngozi Olejeme, has assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s social protection that would boost essential health care benefits and reduce poverty and inequality.

    She said the Social Protection Floor is a foundation for sustainable and inclusive economic growth that has proved to be a powerful anti-crisis measure that protects and empowers people, and contributes to boosting economic demand and accelerating recovery.

    Dr. Olejeme, who is also Chairman, Trustfund Pensions, told The Nation that despite global economic crisis, the government’s social protection floors would still empower people in the informal and formal economy.

    She said: “We assure Nigerians of Federal Government‘s social protection floors that would boost essential health care and benefits, as well as reduce poverty and inequality in the country

    “Despite the global economic crisis, the government’s social protection floors will empower people by creating employment in both the formal and informal sectors.

    She stressed that social protection has proved to be an anti-crisis measure that contributes to boosting economic demand and accelerating recovery.

    She explained that “achieving the social protection schemes would complement the transformation agenda of President Jonathan through improving and promoting social equity and sustainable growth at human development index necessary to stimulate more employment in all sectors of the economy.”

    She said the waves of global economic shocks had underscored the need for countries to reinvent the mechanisms and phenomena for social protection, equitable development and balanced growth.

    “Government social protection policies and programmes referred to initiatives that deliberately sought to protect people and groups against risk and vulnerability, mitigate the impacts of shocks on livelihoods and support people who suffer from chronic incapacities to secure basic livelihood,” she said

    She said the social protection policies are aimed at zero-tolerance on workplace accidents, injuries and fatalities, adding that the government is determined to collaborate with the social strata and other stakeholders to guarantee a cleaner, safer and healther work environment for all workers.

    The principle of social protection has been ingrained as part of the government’s resolve to implement the system, she added.

  • Create pipeline protection agency, says NUPENG

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has called for the establishment of a pipeline protection agency.

    Its President, Comrade Igwe Achese, said such an agency would check the incessant damages to oil pipelines acros the land.

    Comrade Achese, who made the call in the wake of the recent Arepo fire, argued that such a body would ensure enhanced security around pipelines across the country.

    He told The Nation that the high unemployment rate in the country is responsible for the incessant pipeline vandalism, saying the agency, if created should be charged with effective monitoring and policing of oil pipelines.

    The agency should work in tandem with the various security agencies, he added.

    He said the country would continue to experience pipeline vandalism if the security situation in the is not addressed.

    “We are experiencing a system failure; a total collapse of our values. If our security agents are unable to arrest those who killed government officials while repairing damaged pipelines, then the situation has reached worrisome dimension.

    “The Federal Government needs to overhaul the polity to make it to work again. It also has to arrest and punish pipeline vandals, as this would go a long way in stopping the scourge,” he said.

    He said the government must not allow these saboteurs to frustrate its efforts and turn the wheel of progress backward.

    NUPENG lost many of its members to pipeline vandalism in the past.

    Three engineers that were killed at Arepo in the process of repairing vandalised pipelines were also its members.

    The union therefore, stressed the need for the government to stop the killing of its members by putting adequate protection process in place.

  • NLC seeks reverse of ban on mini buses in Abuja

     Says it leads to loss of man-hour

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is seeking the reverse of the ban on the use of mini buses into the main city of Abuja, saying it is affecting the movement of workers and disallowing them to reach their offices on time.

    NLC President, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar told The Nation that the Congress is disturbed by the abrupt disruption of public transport in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since Monday, “leading to loss of man-hour at several workplaces as well as truncation of the means of livelihood of several artisans and commuter bus drivers in the Federal Capital.”

    He said NLC has confirmed that the sudden introduction of the ban was responsible for the disruption.

    “This has greatly affected the movement of workers and artisans whose workplaces are located in the main city as over 90 per cent of those who work in the Federal Capital Territory live in the suburbs, called satellite towns far from the city centre where their workplaces are located.

    “That the Federal Capital Development Authority’s Transport Secretariat suddenly banned mini buses from the city centre because of its plan to introduce long buses is not enough to abruptly stop the mini buses when the FCDA is yet to provide enough of those long buses it intends to introduce.

    “Until there are enough of the long buses accessible to commuters in the satellite towns, the ban must be reversed as it is completely anti people, ill timed and threatens peace and socio economic development as workers may lose their jobs if they are unable to report for work on schedule while the mini bus drivers and their assistants who may lose their means of livelihood may find it difficult to survive,” he said.

    Omar added that no matter how plausible a policy is, the government must learn to get the people involved in all the process leading to the introduction of such policies that directly affects the lives of the people.

    “We are convinced the FCT lack enough commercial buses and what is needed urgently is the provision of more commercial buses and not an abrupt ban on any of the existing ones,” he said.

     

  • NUPENG wants effective rail system

    NUPENG wants effective rail system

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has advised the Federal Government to make rail transportation a priority.

    National President of the union, Mr Igwe Achese, told The Nation that rail is the best means of moving bulk products across the country.

    He said the carnage on the highways and the chaotic traffic jams in the cities were due to lack of effective rail networks.

    Achese said road transportation of petroleum products had caused lots of disasters and losses to petroleum products marketers.

    He said in 1960s and ‘70s the country had rail tankers that moved petroleum products from Port Harcourt to Kaduna.

    “It is the government’s responsibility to make sure that there is adequate infrastructure that is constantly maintained and expanded,” he said.

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola had last December appealed for an efficient rail system to move petroleum products. He said most road accidents were caused by petroleum tankers.

  • Lagos NUJ, Friedrich Ebert plan investment confab

    Sixty journalists in Lagos State are expected to benefit from an investment workshop to be organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos State Council and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

    The journalists,  who will be drawn from 30 media houses at the rate of two participants per media house, will be expected to disseminate the outcome of the training to other members of their media establishments and also educate other colleagues through reporting the seminar in their medium.

    A statement co-signed by Lagos NUJ Chairman, Mr Deji Elumoye and Secretary, Mr Sylva Okereke, said the workshop, which will be residential, “will hold outside the hustling ad buzzling   of Lagos metropolis to avoid distractions.”

    The venue is LimeRidge Hotel, Lekki, Lagos, which has good conducive environment for workshops and seminars.

    Four resource persons for the workshop are expected to be drawn from the Nigerian Economic Group or Lagos Business School to achieve desired results.

  • LUTH to train doctors

    The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) is introducing a skill-improving training programme for doctors.

    This would enable the resident doctors to acquire skills that would be beneficial to patients, Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Akin Osibogun. He said the hospital would introduce a new programme to improve training of resident doctors.

    Osibogun told The Nation that the new programme would enable the resident doctors to acquire skills that would be beneficial to the patients.

    He said the hospital has started acquiring state-of-the-art equipment and has also succeeded in building a sophisticated surgical centre that will facilitate training of health workers in the hospital. ·

    “By starting new programmes, by improving on our infrastructure and the facilities and by acquiring equipment, it means that new procedures and more procedures can be carried out in the hospital.

    “And, as you carry out more procedures and new procedures, then you are improving on training opportunities, because we cannot train residents, if we do not have many procedures being carried out.

    “We have also acquired other equipment, such as the laparoscopic equipment for pinhole surgery or minimally invasive surgery.

    “The equipment is on ground, the facilities are on ground, and so, the training of residents is going to rapidly improve.

    “We also developed one of the most sophisticated surgical skill centres in the country.

    “That surgical skill centre is ready. It has laparoscopic towers for training of residents and other health workers. So, this year, we are going full blast in terms of service provision as well as training of resident doctors and other health workers to ensure that we continue to facilitate the transfer of skills.”

  • Union condemns maltreatment of telecoms workers

    The National Union of Telecommunication Technology Employees (NUCTE) has decried the ill-treatment of workers in the telecommunications industry.

    National President of the union Mr Sunday Alhassan told The Nation that some of the foreign courier companies in Nigeria are violating the principles of decent work.

    He said private telecoms and courier companies’ workers lacked mechanisms that could protect and guarantee workers’ rights.

    He said the union intends to ensure the implementaion of ‘the decent work agenda’ in the industry through the unionisation of worker.

    He said: “Here in Nigeria, these companies deliberately breach our labour laws as they operate with impunity with clear anti-labour policies that are neither practised nor tolerated in their home countries.

    “As a result of this obvious unfair labour practices, workers in the private sector in Nigeria are caught up in conditions that defile decency at work and dignity.

    “They also interfere in the ability of workers to undertake their daily economic activities in the dignity and conditions that promote respect for the worker no matter his or her status.

    Noting that the International Labour Congress (ILO) has set decent work for all as the goal for its work, he said the four pillars of decent work are employment opportunities, workers’rights, social protection and representations.

    He added: “Most of these private companies operating in Nigeria comply with the labour laws in their home countries and as a result allow workers to unionise in their parent companies.

    ‘’So, I wonder why the situation should be different with them here in Nigeria when they know the rules.

    “The workers need to know their rights; they also need to know that where workers exist in an organisation, they need to have a union that will stand for them.

    “A body that stand between them and the management, to be able to speak on their behalf. The issue is about the workers themselves, because if the workers believe that their rights has been trampled upon, the only way to fight for this right is through the unions.

    “Individual workers will find it very difficult to challenge their management on some of these issues and so they need the unions to do that.

    ‘’But most often some of these workers don’t have the knowledge; majority of them are ignorant of what their rights are; and so we need to sensitise them; reorientate them and then enlighten them on some these rights.”

    Alhassan urged the ministries of Labour and Communications to regulate the operations of such operators to avoid confrontation with the union.

    Speaking on the future of postal service in Nigeria, Alhassan called for a speedy commercialisation of the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) to further stimulate the growth of the sector in the country.

    He said: “When an organisation is commercialised, what the government does is to give a take-off grant for it to get started. Along the line, the organisation fends for itself and begins to generate its own revenue.

    “Then, it begins to take care of its personnel and overhead cost. Funding, as the years go by, will definitely have to reduce. So, what the organisation does is to also generate resources to assist the government and boost the treasury of the government.”

    He said to reposition NIPOST commercially, it was imperative to study the activities of some of the privatised companies since the reform programme began.

    The union boss noted that this was to determine if commercialisation of these companies was working or not.

    He stressed the union was not opposed to the commercialisation of NIPOST.

  • Jigawa to recruit 3,044 workers

    The Jigawa State Government is to recruit 3,044 workers this year.

    The state Head of Service, Alhaji Mustapha Aminu, told The Nation that 1,670 workers were also approved for promotion, saying that the recruitment and promotion would be spread across all sectors as captured in 2013 Appropriation Bill.

    He explained that 1,200 teachers would be recruited under the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to teach in primary and junior secondary schools.

    According to him, 400 university graduates would be employed to teach in senior secondary schools across the state. The head of service said the government had directed each of the tertiary institutions to recruit 40 workers.

    Aminu said the administration is committed to reducing the level of unemployment by creating employment in the state.