Category: Labour

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has denied reports that its National Secretariat in Lagos and the ultra-modern complex under construction at Mabushi area in Abuja have been sold by the current national leadership.

In a statement in Lagos, the ASCSN Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, regretted that few disgruntled members of the union who engaged in anti-union activities and were expelled by the National Executive Council (NEC) had elected to be propagating lies to anti-graft agencies and the public to impugn the reputation of it’s national leadership.

“All the documents in respect of the Union’s property in Lagos and Abuja which were allegedly taken over by individuals and sold are very much intact and being kept safely.

“It is really unfortunate that those who are deliberately spreading falsehood are still walking in the streets as free citizens,” he said.

According to Comrade Bashir Lawal, when the operatives of some of the agencies visited the site of the new National Secretariat being constructed in Abuja by the association, they were surprised that the secretariat complex consisting of a conference centre, guest house, offices and shopping malls at the 5th floor, was being built through internally generated revenue.

On the alleged N14 billion fraud in the association, Comrade Bashir Lawal asked: “What is the total check-off dues of the Union since it was registered in 1981 that such huge amount has been embezzled in the last 10 years?”

“How can it be that a trade union such as the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria with 36 States Branches, 35 Chapters, and more than 1,000 units in the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) at the Federal and State Levels which organises meetings, seminars, training for its members at home and abroad, pay entitlements to its teeming members and officers be accused of corruption?

“It must be emphasised that the association renders annual returns of its account to the Registrar of trade unions under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment every year as stipulated by the Trade Union Acts.”

Organised Labour has said the downstream oil and gas and banking sub-sectors of the economy and other workplaces experience a 50 per cent burden of casualisation.

It demanded a regulation manual to regularise ‘non-permanent’ staff of banks.

Labour, under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE) demanded that the law review should also toughen legislative sanctions on casualisation of labour.

President of NLC, Ayuba Wabba, who said this at the 11th, 7th, Quadrennial Delegates Conference of NUBIFIE in Lagos, lamented the many unfriendly labour practises in the banking sector, some of which, he said predated the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the congress and the leadership of NUBIFIE had beckoned on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Bankers’ Committee, seeking practical solutions to the dysfunctions in the system.

Citing some instances, he said the last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in the banking sub-sector was done in 2005.

He said: “The CBA was due for review in 2007. Our affiliates in the banking sector wrote to the CBN on the need to review the current CBA. Banks were also written to address the issues of CBA and ‘non-permanent’ staff in their payroll. Sadly, up till date nothing concrete has come out of those engagements.

“There is also the issue of subjecting bank workers to the stress and strain of outrageous deposit or investment targets. Such pressure has forced many bank workers into very unethical and immoral conduct just to satisfy the expectations of management.

“It is important to make the point loud and clear that these unfair, degrading and dehumanising culture that has become entrenched in our banking system is not only akin to “modern day slavery” but are also against conditions precedent for banking operations license in Nigeria and certainly offensive to our culture and tradition and laws.”

However, Wabba, who was represented by the Deputy President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, said the congress’ intervention yielded some fruit as the Federal Ministry of Labour in 2020 set up two committees to address the unfriendly labour practices and concerns in the banking sub-sector.

The first committee, he said, is saddled with developing modalities for the review of the subsisting CBA in the banking sub-sector while the second committee is to develop a regulation manual to address the ‘non-permanent’ staff of banks.
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National President of NUBIFIE, Anthony Abakpa, listed some of the challenges confronting the sector, among which is the Bank Employees Act Declaration of Assets.

He said though as the union appreciates the rational behind the review of the act, which is to enhance accountability, transparency, integrity and good corporate governance in the banking industry, some aspects of the amendment bill has been tendered to infringe on individual rights and liberty.

According to him, individuals, who are not employees of banks, such as children and spouses, among others should not be subjected to any part of the act, simply because of an affinity to an employee of a bank.

The union at the conference elected new set of executives.

Abakpa was re-elected as National President; Chinedu Ogbonna emerged as the Deputy National President; Francis Ndife (Deputy National President); Ibrahim Saidu (Vice President); James Yaro (Vice President); Onyekachi Emeka (National Treasurer); Femi Makindipe (National Trustee); Nkiru Ejim (National Trustee); Abubakar Gyang (National Auditor); Thomas Omoaka (National Auditor) and Stella Adu (Female Representative).

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has blamed the Federal Government over the hyper-inflation that has greeted the Liquified Natural Gas (LPG), commonly referred to as cooking gas.

The union said that  it is disheartening to note that the price of refilling 12.5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (cooking gas) has risen by almost 100 pee cent percent over the past one year.

President and General Secretary of PENGASSAN Festus Osifo and Lumumba Okugbawa, who spoke on the issues affecting the populace, which required urgent attention, admonished government at all levels to quickly come together and find urgent solutions to the myriad of issues plaguing the nation to reduce the difficulties faced by the citizens.

According to the union, this is one singular product that is used by several households in the country.

“Currently, the cost of cooking gas has continued in steady climb from average of 4,500 Naira at the beginning of 2021 to the current price of between 8,750 and 10,000 Naira for the popular 12.5kg cylinder.We are worried that most middle to upper class homes, especially in the urban areas, are feeling the pinch.

“The poorer families are going through harrowing experiences trying to cope, more so as the price of kerosene had long taken flight in addition to being scarce in many places. Despite Nigeria sitting on one of the largest gas reserves in the world, we still depend largely on imported gas. Up to 70 per cent of the gas we consume in the country is imported.

“We hereby call on the President to immediately abolish the VAT on gas importation, prevent further slide of the Naira, channel some of the exported gas to domestic use, and provide some form of verifiable palliatives for the lower-class citizens,” the union said.

The union also expressed dismay over the recent directive accompanied with the threat by the Presidential Steering Committee (PSC) that Federal Government employees would not be allowed into their offices without proof of vaccination or negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests effective  December 1, 2021. The union said it considered the directive and alleged threat as unbecoming, draconian and against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that the government pledged to always uphold.

The association said it had earlier admonished providers of labour to sensitise and advocate for its employees on the advantages of taking COVID-19 vaccines and not to issue threats to the workforce.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said social services must be improved in Africa, calling for the implementation of the core provisions of development plans with a focus on the fourth industrial revolution.

The NLC said this in a statement  by its President, Ayuba Wabba, in celebration of Africa’s Industrialisation Day.

“The pandemic has revealed the acute deficits of social protection cover as only 17.4 per cent of Africans can boast of security cover. This challenge is symptomatic of poor industrialisation and the consequent dearth of decent jobs in Africa,” it said.

According to the union, poor industrialisation results in low productivity, stunted economic growth, fewer jobs, and social chaos.

It highlighted the importance of paying serious attention to industrialisation, productivity, economic growth, job creation and social development in Africa.

It said: “This is the time to change the begging bowl stereotype of the African continent by re-industrialising our cities, towns and villages. It is pertinent to point out that having missed the first, second and third industrial revolutions, Africans cannot afford to be left out of the fourth revolution.

“There are several ways to catch up before we can hop on the train of the fourth industrial revolution. We must prioritise our social sector.

“We must improve social services. We must increase budgetary allocation to education, health and social welfare services and with an eye on value for money.

“We must improve physical infrastructure. We must build roads, railways and inland waterways to connect our sub-regions. We must resolve the chaos in our aviation sector. We must enhance the value additions to the primary modes of our economy.

“We must restore the culture of mutual respect, maintain the peace, foster stability and end the wars and violence on the mother continent.Now is the time to industrialise Africa.”

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says the elimination of child labour is critical to the growth and development of West Africa. TOBA AGBOOLA reports.

A RESEARCH by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has indicated a potential increase to the 160 million children trapped in child labour worldwide.

Of this figure, 72.1 million of children are found in Africa, where COVID-19 has affected economies and more children are burdened with responsibilities.

The impacts of child labour on our safety and development cannot be over-emphasised.

Director of the ILO Abuja Country Office for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Ms. Vanessa Phala, said at a forum in Abuja on child labour that there was the need to close the gap in the prevalence of child labour in the region through accelerated action by each member state, and monitoring and evaluation of efforts by the ECOWAS Commission for maximum impact in improving social protection, social security, social safety nets and economic growth.

The latest global estimates by the ILO and UNICEF indicated that in terms of prevalence, nearly one of four children in sub-Saharan Africa  is in child labour while West and Central Africa account for a significant number of these children.

Acknowledging the efforts of the ECOWAS Commission, in collaboration with ILO, for the  evaluation of the implementation of the first ECOWAS Regional Action Plan (RAP) for the elimination of the worst forms of child Labour, she noted that the assessment of the implementation of RAP was informative and identified successes and gaps that require interventions.

Noting that the evaluation informed the development of the draft of the second cycle RAP document set for validation, she expressed optimism that the effective implementation of the RAP by member states and monitoring by the ECOWAS Commission would ensure the elimination of child labour across the region.

The ILO is collaborating with ECOWAS in the evaluation, development and validation of the RAP, under the framework of the Accelerating action for the elimination of child labour in supply chains in Africa (ACCEL Africa) project, funded by the Netherlands Government.

However, given the global increase in the number of children trapped in child labour to an alarming 160 million – from 152 million in the last four years, the ILO Director said: “Our efforts in Africa requires acceleration as there is the need to implement innovative actions that will ensure positive impact through strengthened partnerships.

“Through targeted actions in agriculture and artisanal gold mining supply chains, by projects like the ACCEL Africa, the ILO is supporting national stakeholders in the elimination of child labour.

“We are supporting communities with the most prevalent cases of child labour by promoting economic empowerment, strengthening of legal frameworks, supporting communities to take ownership of the fight against child labour, providing withdrawal, prevention and rehabilitation services to children in or at high risk of child labour and promoting community well-being to ensure the sustainability of the actions.”

She added: “As we review and validate this regional strategy to prevent and respond to the exploitation of children in the workplace, it is important to observe the implications of our actions in achieving SDG Target 8.7. It is hoped that the implementation of this RAP will contribute to the achievements of SDG 8.7.

“Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in its forms.

“Therefore, as custodians of society, it’s our responsibility to secure the future by communicating effectively, using a synergy of messaging harmonised into the single ambition to eliminate  forms of child labour in Nigeria by 2025.”

Commending the ECOWAS Commission for its achievements in the elimination of child labour and protection of children, she said with the validation, ECOWAS had implemented its International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour (IYECL) pledge.

Deputy Director, Inspectorate, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olaolu Olaitan, cautioned that not all work done by children are child labour, saying there are differences between child labour and child work.

She said: “Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour. Whether or not particular forms of ‘work’ can be called ‘child labour’depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individuals or parents for engaging in such work.

“Children or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is regarded as child work and something positive.This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These  activities contribute to the development and welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.”

She stressed that the worst child labour involved children enslaved to serious hazards and illness or left to fend for themselves on the streets – often at a very early age.

Olaitan insisted that while child labour takes various forms, the priority was to eliminate the odious practice without delay in accordance with Article 3 of the ILO Convention No 82.

She listed poverty, ignorance on the part of families and children of the risks involved in child labour, poor access to decent work, limited understanding of what child labour is, high demand for cheap labour, especially by small and medium scale enterprises in the informal sector, death of parents or caregivers, natural disaster and climate change, conflict situations, inadequate laws and enforcement, existing laws and codes of conducts often violated and national laws often include exemptions.

To the Acting Director, Inspectorate of the ministry, Ajuwon Dauda, child labourers are mostly found in agriculture, mining, domestic service, construction and transportation.

He said some of the children working in the various sectors were either victims of trafficking, forced or bonded labour subjected to both national and international flows, mostly within the ECOWAS region.

In mining, Dauda said child labour was prevalent in quarries and artisanal or small-scale mining, which mainly involved individuals, groups, families, or cooperatives with minimal or no mechanisation.

Also, the age group involved in quarrying is 11 to 15 with a predominant male distribution where children are involved in various dangerous activities such as digging, breaking, chiselling, heating, cracking, crushing, hammering, excavating and carrying of rocks, stone dust and sands.

In the construction industry, child labourers are involved in the task of brick-making, carrying and stacking bricks and other construction materials. Children’s work in this sector often accounts for between three and four hours after school and longer during weekends and holiday periods.

In the transportation sector, the involvement of children often occurs at an early age when they are vulnerable to unhealthy influences and peer pressure. The gender distribution is skewed towards boys, with girls involved in providing ancillary services such as the sale of food and alcoholic drinks.

To tackle the menace, Dauda said the ministry was reviewing the Labour Act CAP L1, LFN, 2004 and other labour laws to address the gaps in labour administration and elimination of child labour.

However, he pointed out that about 43 per cent of children between  five and 17 were engaged in economic activities, an indication that modern slavery and child labour are still prevalent in Nigeria; and have remained formidable challenges.

To tackle child labour, Dauda said united efforts among governments, institutions, civil society organisations and individual entities in line with the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning multinational enterprises and social policy were urgently needed.

The Chemical and Non- Metallic Products Senior Staff Association (CANMPSSAN)  has expressed concerns over the high interest rates in the country, which have remained in double digits, saying it is affecting manufacturing.

Its President, Comrade Segun Samson David, said at the 26th National Management/Industrial Relations Seminar of the union in Ibadan, at the weekend, that government needed to come up with workable and sustainable policies on the ease of doing business.

According to him, the common man is at the receiving end, noting that this is more evident as Nigeria is an import-dependent country.

He said: ”Over 90 per cent of raw materials used by the manufacturing companies are imported. The exchange rate is a mere indicator of the balance of supply and demand in the foreign exchange market.

“The recent slide in the official exchange rate (N410 to a US dollar), the widening gap between it and the parallel market premium (N600 to a US dollar) is a test to the capacity of the government to stabilise the Naira. The country annual average net goods exports inflow compared to the outflow has been on an abnormally negative trend.

“There is short flow of dollar compared to outflow. The parallel market rate is determined mostly by speculators and rent seekers in a shallow and illegal market which constitutes a very tiny proportion of the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.”

He noted that foreign exchange was high because of its scarcity in the market in relation to the demand of desperate agents  that need dollar at all cost.

He advised the monetary authority to mount a strong and effective surveillance on the foreign exchange market to void the cabal that constitutes the BDC, check the round-tripping of foreign exchange from deposit money banks to parallel market and ensure one market-determined window for all.

Speaking on the theme of the  seminar, “Sustainable industrial harmony and productivity: An imperative for achieving organisational effectiveness and navigating difficult times,” David said it was borne out of how the recessive effects of the ravaging pandemic had resulted in high inflation in the economy, a situation that may lead to collapse of businesses with resultant job losses, if not carefully managed.

He reasoned that sustainable industrial harmony enhances productivity and is one of the critical means of improving performance in the manufacturing sector, achieving growth, enhancing living standards and quality of life.

“This year’s seminar was designed to help us build our workplace communication for harmonious working relationships, strategise for ways to navigate difficult times for improved workers’ welfare and industrial efficiency,” he said.

He lamented the multifarious problems bedeviling the nation, which cut across insecurity and COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in  recessions separatist agitation, among others.

The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has  said workers will soon enjoy more social security packages as applicable in developed countries.

Speaking with The Nation, Regional Manager, Lagos Region, Abdul-Lateef Musa, said this was part of the ongoing reforms in the organisation to enable it deliver on its core mandate.

At the moment, he said, the NSITF has only one product, which is the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECA) where employers pay one per cent of employees’ total emoluments. The contribution from the employer is expected to take care of the employee who suffers any injury or accident during the discharge of official duties.

“Unfortunately, not all employers comply with this, thereby dragging the NSITF behind from carrying out its mandate.

‘’Besides, the organisation has also gone through several problems in terms of managerial deliverables and as such the reason for reorganisation and repositioning of the body,” he said.

He said the training to sensitise employers on the reorganisation and need for compliance would run throughout the Federation and would last for one month.

It would be recalled that the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Fund, Dr. Michael Akabogu said  the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010 is aimed at protecting workers and that the Act empowers NSITF to implement the Employees’ Compensation Scheme.

Akabogu said employers were required to contribute one per cent of the employees’ emolument to the pool of funds and the institute has been delivering this service since 2011. he noted that many employers have keyed into the scheme.

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Retailers (LPGAR), branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), has said that Tuesday’s explosion at Ladipo Spare Part Market, Lagos was caused by acetylene gas.

Its National Secretary, Mr Olukayode Solomon, made the clarification in a statement issued in Lagos while commiserating with the families of the victims of the explosion.

It was reported that five persons were killed in the explosion which occurred at an acetylene gas retailing outlet located at No. 33/35 Ojekunle St., Ladipo Spare Part Market, Lagos.

Solomon noted that the incident was not in anyway related to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which is popularly called cooking Gas.

He said: “It is important to state clearly that the outlet in which the explosion occurred was specifically an acetylene gas outlet.

“Acetylene gas is an industrial gas used for welding, cutting and other related industrial activities.

“Acetylene gas is often sold alongside oxygen gas which is equally an industrial gas.

“The explosions of these industrial gasses often cause wide-scale destruction similar to military bombs, unlike LPG explosion which often causes inferno.”

According to him, damage arising from LPG explosion usually comes as a result of the spread of its inferno based on the level of gas leakage and spread.

“On the contrary, industrial gasses such as acetylene and oxygen usually pull down structures around the scene of the explosion because of the high pressure of the industrial gasses as well as the very heavyweight of the industrial gas cylinders.

“Also, acetylene and oxygen gasses do not use the same cylinders used for LPG as exemplified by the type of cylinders that littered around the scene of the explosion.

“It is equally important to note that acetylene and oxygen gasses are not derived from the same sources as LPG, “ Solomon said.

He further explained that they were also are not regulated by the same agency that regulates LPG.

Solomon noted that LPG was derived from petroleum and natural gas and regulated by the former Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) now replaced with Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.

“The regulation of acetylene gas, oxygen gas and the other related gasses is presently located within the federal ministry in charge of industry.

“These clarifications have become necessary to forestall further misrepresentation of facts whenever an explosion relating to gas occurs.

“We equally use this opportunity to implore the media as a whole to always seek clarifications before publication.

“ This is because this particular misrepresentation has been a regular occurrence in the recent time,” he said.

The Director-General,  Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Comrade Issa Aremu, has urged organised labour and civil society organisations in Africa to defend constitutionalism and oppose military coups.

Areme spoke at a seminar on “Conflict resolution through interest-based bargaining: Strategies and structure”.

In a statement, Aremu said his call was imperative against the background of what he called “recent unacceptable undemocratic” military coups in Mali, Guinea and Sudan. He urged trade unionists to speak out and resist unconstitutional usurpation of power on the continent.

According to him, the first casualties of unconstitutional order are human and trade union rights, adding that illegal regime changes are as much a threat to elected ruling class as much as to the poor working class.

Hailing decades  of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa , Aremu observed that unions had rightly taken the advantage of the democratic space in these countries to advance the cause of the working class through wage improvement, collective bargaining, free and unfettered organising and exercise of freedom of association.

“Organised labour which suffered violations of rights through union dissolutions, income poverty and imprisonments have more stakes in defending democracy than any other groups in Africa, ” he said.

He, therefore, called on organised labour movement to condemn and resist any undemocratic short  cut to power, adding that sustainable development is only possible through rules and process which only democracy guarantees.

“There is a long assured road to prosperity through democracy, while short-cut thorny path of military regimes perpetuates poverty, lack of accountability and underdevelopment,” he said.

Aremu praised the resolution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to impose sanctions against the military regimes in Guinea and Mali.

In a related development, he hailed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), political  parties and the security agencies for conducting a free and fair governorship election in Anambra State.

Meanwhile, Aremu in line with the mandate to offer advice to stakeholders in managing conflicts at work places, MINILS, on the directive of the Minister of State for Labour, Mr. Festus Keyamo, has waded into the three- week nationwide strike embarked upon by the Joint Research and Allied Institution Unions (JORAISU) on the implementation of a disputed 10-year agreement on wages and allowances towards a mutually-acceptable resolution of  the dispute.