The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • Reps pledge improved funding to tackle human trafficking

    The House of Representatives has pledged to improve funding to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to enhance the fight against human trafficking in the country.

    Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights, Edward Gyang Pwajok, said this during NAPTIP’s budget defence at the National Assembly.

    The Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, had pledged improved funding when he hosted NAPTIP Director-General Julie Okah-Donli.

    Speaking after a presentation by Okah-Donli, who was represented by the Director, Finance and Account, Dr Hassan Ndanusa, the lawmaker said he was impressed with the prudent utilisation of the resources allocated to the Agency in the previous year. He pointed out that the fiscal allocation to the agency was quite inadequate, considering the huge task ahead of it.

    Pwajok, who scored NAPTIP high in awareness creation, rescue and rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking and irregular migration as well as prosecution of traffickers, said NAPTIP as the Federal Government’s agency for counter- trafficking, deserved the government’s support and the private sector, hence, the need for a balanced financial stand and adequate funding of its activities.

    Similarly, the European Union (EU) delegation to Nigeria has lauded the Agency for its roles in the on-going evacuation of stranded Nigerians in Libya and assured the agency of its assistance.

    Meanwhile, Mrs Okah-Donli has advocated a customised rehabilitation package for victims of human trafficking and irregular migration across the world in other to tackle the phenomenon effectively.

    She said this while receiving a delegation from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice, who visited her at the NAPTIP headquarters.

    The visit was a follow up to the bilateral talks on migration-related issues, which held during the Federal Government delegation’s visit to Oslo last May.

    According to her, such package, which will be developed with input from victims and focal counter trafficking institutions, such as NAPTIP, would be implemented in accordance with the agreed modalities to ensure that victims are not re-trafficked while at the same time reduce the vulnerability of other segments of the society.

  • Retirees urge Union Bank to pay N42.77b retirement benefits

    Retirees urge Union Bank to pay N42.77b retirement benefits

    Retirees of the Union Bank of Nigeria, under the auspices of Grand Progressive Association of Contributory Pensioners of Union Bank of Nigeria, have accused the National Pension Commission (PenCom) of collaborating with the bank to deny them their benefits amounting to N42.77 billion.

    The pensioners, numbering 6,748, said the bank has not paid the balance of N42.77 billion, 11 years after they retired. They alleged that PenCom has refused to sanction the bank in accordance with the Pension Reform Act, 2004 as amended.

    In a statement by the group’s Preesident, Yohanna Sodo, and Secretary Augustine Ikaan, the pensioners explained that the Union Bank Legacy Pension Assets/Accrued Rights were carried out on March 31, 2008 by Hogg Robinson Nigeria Limited, which submitted that total Legacy pension asset stood at N46.711billion, while the accrued rights was N26.57billion.

    They further said of the total amount of N73.28 billion, the bank only remitted N30.51 billion, leaving a balance of N42.77 billion, which has not been paid. They also alleged that rather than PenCom exercising the powers conferred on it, the commission has chosen to remain silent on the issue even when it is obvious that Union Bank has flouted the law.

    Relying on Section 11 subsection 1(c) of the Pension Reform Act 2014, the retirees argued that as from June 25, 2004, being the commencement of the Pension Reform Act 2004 as amended in 2014, the Accrued Pension rights to retirement benefits of any employee, who is already under any pension scheme existing before the commencement of that Act and has over three years to retire, shall credit the retirement savings accounts of the employees with any funds to which each employee is entitled, and in the event of an insufficiency of funds to meet this liability, the shortfall shall immediately become a debt of the relevant employer and shall have priority over any other claim.

    They stressed that in line with the Pension Reforms Act, the bank management is required to offset the balance of Legacy Pension and accrued rights, which ought to have been remitted to the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) of the ex-workers in compliance with Section 11 sub-section 1(c) of the Pension Reform Act.

  • NAMA eyes industrial harmony

    NAMA eyes industrial harmony

    The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is set to achieve industrial harmony as its management has held an engagement forum with the Joint Aviation Trade Unions.

    The unions include National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), National Association of Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA), National Association of Aeronautical Engineers (NAAE), Aeronatical Information Management Association of Nigeria (AIMA) and National Aeronautical Communication Association of Nigeria (NACAN), and Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees ( ACUPTRE).

    The forum, which held at the corporate headquarters of the airspace agency, provided an opportunity for the agency’s team, led by Captain Fola Akinkuotu, to engage the leadership of aviation unions on how to forestall industrial unrest and examine issues bordering on non conclusive conditions of service, poor salaries as a result of non implementation of the National Wages and Salaries Commission approval for NAMA to operate same salary structure with Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), since 2003.

    The meeting, a source said, was the first time Akinkuotu met with trade and professional unions after one year in office.

    Led by the National President of NUATE, Comrade Mohammed Dauda Safiyanu , the meeting offered a robust window for NAMA management to resolve mistrust that existed in the agency occasioning lack of trust.

    According to Safiyanu , the meeting also provided opportunity for NAMA management to leverage capacity building, foster training and promotion of personnel of the agency to eliminate low work morale.

  • LSETF, LCDA to partner on jobs

    Ojokoro Local Council Development Area (LCDA) Chairman    Hammed Idowu  Tijani is set to partner the Lagos State Employment Trust Funds (LSETF)  to create wealth and jobs for residents of the community.

    The opportunities, according to him, will come under a scheme tagged: “Matching “, where the local government will enter into a deal with LSETF to facilitate them.

    The scheme, Tijani said, covers six sectors: health,  manufacturing, garment making, hospitality, construction and entertainment. Trainees will receive loans to start their businesses after the training.

    The loan, which comes under two categories are: start up, which can accommodate those who want to start their businesses with N50,000 to N250,000 and the second category is the micro enterprise that affords a minimum of  N50,000, and a maximum of N500,000. The loans are expected to be repaid within 15 months after collection.

    Further details of the programme will be made known to residents through an enlarged meeting and announcement, the chairman said.

  • ‘Training without support will not give desired outcome’

    INDUSTRIAL Training Fund (ITF) Director-General Sir Joseph Ari has urged  stakeholders, especially governors and members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), to support trainees with adequate funding.

    He added that training without corresponding support would not yield expected outcome.

    At the closing ceremony of the National Industrial Skills Development Programme (NISDP), Ari said the decision to provide start-up packs was informed by the agency’s tracking and monitoring of earlier trainees, who were not supported with start-up packs. He said 90 per cent of the trainees went ahead to be successful entrepreneurs, or even employers of labour.

    He said: “This phase of the programme will benefit over 11,000 trainees across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.

    “The start-up packs that are being distributed today should be viewed as our practical example and message to our stakeholders, especially state governors and other members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) that training without corresponding support will not lead to expected outcome.

    “It is in this light that I will especially commend governors that have so far equipped trainees in their states with start-up packs. We want to urge all governors and other office holders to follow the examples of their colleagues if the objectives of empowering their citizens with skills acquisition will meet the expected objectives.”

    He said the trainees were trained for three months in three trades namely: tailoring and fashion design, welding and fabrication, and plumbing and pipe-fitting.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs Akingbile Yusuf said the initiative was a good step in the right direction.

  • Ex-councillor empowers over 400 residents

    Over 400 persons have been empowered in a week-long programme sponsored by a former Councillor from Oriade Local Government Area of Lagos State, Rita Arabome. The empowerement was aimed at reducing youth unemployment in the community and the nation at large.

    Held in conjunction with Bank of Industry (BoI), those empowered, who came from both Oriade and Amuwo Odofin Local Council,  comprised women and youths, who she said were specifically targeted because they were not adequately catered for in the scheme of things.

    They were taught various soft skills such as bead making, soap making, small chops, cosmetics, agriculture, dettol making and others that can  lift them out of their present state and develop the country.

    Arabome said her passion for the less privileged spurred her to embark on the empowerment programme as it was a follow up to her earlier empowerment programme held for people in her ward, E1, Maza-maza area of Satellite Town, Lagos State.

    She said: “My calling in life when I asked God was to be a job creator and I feel nothing should stop an able bodied man or woman from doing something out of their talents. So, I feel people should have something doing no matter how small and we don’t really need to rely on the government so much like a lot of people do, who just sit down without having anything  going on and just roam about. I have this calling for women and youth to  empower them.

    “When I did it at my Ward in 2010 , it was very successful, and it has been on my mind ever since I left office almost four years ago that I need to do something for this local government and  Amuwo Odofin  as a Federal Consistency. I divided each of the two local governments into four zones each so  that we can cover all the areas there, which made the training to be done in eight different places and on different days,”she said.

    She said the support from the two local government chairmen encouraged her to reach more people.

    Arabome said collaboration with the BoI was encouraging as it came with their grant of N50,000, without collateral to be paid back in six months.

    A beneficiary, Mrs Victoria Lawal said the training was interesting as they were taught how to make different products such as liquid detergents, soaps, dettols and others which they can use to lift themselves economically. She thanked the organiser on the initiative.

  • Lawmakers urge ministry to check youth unemployment

    The Senate and the House of Representatives Committees on Employment, Labour and Productivity have urged the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, to tackle youth unemployment.

    According to them, he should widen the scope of the various vocational skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development programmes being anchored by the ministry.

    In separate remarks during the ministry’s 2018  budget defence, both Chairmen, Sen. Suleiman Nasif and Rep. Ezenwa  Onyebuchi, noted that employment generation was a critical area, which the ministry needed to do more upon the passage of the 2018 budget.

    The committees expressed readiness to visit the ministry’s projects sites with a view to ascertaining the level of compliance and implementation.

    In his presentation, the Ngige said the ministry did well in both structural and service delivery as a result of the concerted and diligent implementation of budgeted projects and prorammes in the 2017 appropriation despite paucity of budgetary releases.

    He said: “We were operating on only 20 per cent budgetary release until January 2018. Our budget performance for 2017 would have surpassed the expectation of Nigerians and critical stakeholders if not for the paucity of funds for the implementation of plans and programmes in critical areas of capacity building, strengthening of labour councils and other capital projects, which were not fully funded due to the global economic recession.

    “We are very hopeful that we will be able to complete many of the outstanding projects and programmes of all the line items of our 2017 budget before capital budget appropriation closes in March 2018. We are happy that the financial portals have just been re-opened. We, however, pledge to do more before the end of March 2018.”

  • NDE okays training of over 76,000 new recruits

    The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has approved the recruitment and training of 76,300 trainees nationwide, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) NDE Coordinator Lady Edna Offordile has said.

    She said under the scheme, each state had been mandated to recruit and train 2,000 unskilled men and women, who might be primary or secondary school leavers, school drop-outs and other unskilled/unemployed persons who might wish to be trained in identified marketable skills.

    Speaking at the orientation of Basic Open National Apprenticeship Scheme (NOAS) for 2,000 trainees organised by the NDE FCT Vocational Skill Development Department in Abuja, she said the training in cosmetology would last for two weeks.

    “At the end of this training, the trainees should be able to produce bar soap, bath soap, liquid soap, Izal, Detol, body spray, hair cream, air freshener, shampoo, hair conditioner, body cream and the production of insecticide.

    “Having acquired this knowledge, they should also be able to package and sell these products to make a living. The training involves 18 master trainers spread out to all the area councils of the FCT,” she said.

    Offordile disclosed that the intensive training in other skills, such as interior decoration, catering and  phone repairs will commence immediately after the two-week training and will last three months, adding that the trainees  will be trained by proficient and well established trainers in  various localities they are domiciled.

    The NDE FCT, she said, will engage the services of counsellors/motivational speakers and successful entrepreneurs during the orientation.

    “You will be posted to selected master craftsmen with standard training outlets across the FCT,” she added.

  • Civil servants condemn plan to deregulate wages

    Civil servants condemn plan to deregulate wages

    THE Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has condemned plans by the Federal Government to deregulate wages in the guise of restructuring the polity.

    In a statement, the ASCSN National President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to reject the recommendation of the committee set up by the All Progressives Congress (APC), led by the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, which recommended that Labour should be removed from Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent list.

    The labour leaders argued that if wages and other labour-related matters were removed from the Exclusive Legislative List, governors, most of whom are not paying their workers’ salaries, would use the opportunity to further impoverish Nigerian workers and their families.

    ”We, therefore, believe that labour like other institutions such as the army, navy, air force, customs service, immigration, among others, are symbols of national unity and should accordingly be retained in the Exclusive Legislative list,” the Union added.

    The ASCSN chieftains recalled that the Chairman of the Committee, Governor El-Rufai had been waging a war of attrition against trade unions in Kaduna State and at a time tried to dissolve all trade unions thereby demanding that thousands of workers in the state should re-apply to join any trade union of their choice, contrary to the extant labour laws, judicial pronouncements, and Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the right of workers to organise and collective bargaining.

    “As we speak, he has issued a circular stopping check-off deductions from salaries of union members in the sate.

    ”Recently, Governor El-Rufai, in continuation of his anti-workers agenda, sacked 21,000 teachers apart from other atrocities he has been unleashing on helpless workers in the state.

    ”Thus, it is not surprising that the Kaduna State governor has used the cover of the APC restructuring panel to want to completely decimate the trade unions in Nigeria by recommending that wages and other related labour issues should be moved from the Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent list. This will give El-Rufai and his fellow governors the opportunity to start paying peanuts to their workers as wages or no salary at all,” the Union noted.

    The ASCSN leaders warned that anarchy would prevail in the industrial relations arena in the country if millions of workers in the 36 states of the Federation would start to form their own trade unions and wondered how many trade unions would exist in the state and how negotiation would be carried out.

    According to the ASCSN, countries of the world that have National Minimum Wage include but not limited to: United States (US), $15,080 per annum; United Kingdom (UK), $20,063 per annum; Australia, $26,862 per annum; Albania, $2,320 per annum; Argentina, $8,368 per annum; the Bahamas, $10,920  per annum; Brazil, $3,491 per annum.

    Others are Canada, $17,027 per annum; Fiji, $3,189 per annum; Hong Kong, $9,245 per annum; Iran, $3,610  per annum; Ireland, $21,199 per annum; South Korea, $13, 499 per annum; Morocco, $3,664 per annum; Cape Verde, $1,565 per annum; Republic of Congo, $1,821 per annum; Equatorial Guinea $2,611 per annum; Nigeria, $591 per annum.

    The union leaders regretted that the El-Rufai panel could not conduct any research to establish the fact that all countries of the world have national minimum wage.

    The ASCSN then urged the National Assembly, Civil Society groups, religious leaders, prominent citizens, royal fathers, among others, to rise up and reject the attempt by the APC through Governor El-Rufai to further impoverish millions of workers and their families by removing wages and other labour related issues from the Exclusive Legislative list to the Concurrent list.

    In a related development, the Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) has urged the tripartite committee on minimum wage to speed up the negotiation process for the benefit of workers.

    Its new President, Lawrence Amaechi, who said this in Abuja after his election, said the welfare of members of the union would be his watchword.

    His words: “As an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), our administration will support and collaborate with the Congress and other affiliate unions in all matters affecting Nigerian workers and the masses in general.

    “We are aware that the new National Minimum Wage for Nigerian workers is long overdue. I, therefore, call on the tripartite committee on minimum wage to fast track its work in order to put smiles on the faces of the suffering workers as justice delayed is justice denied, and minimum wage delayed is minimum wage denied.”

  • ITF partners NCRIP on training returnees

    TO ensure the smooth  reintegration into the society of Nigerian migrants from Libya and other parts of the world, the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) is to partnering the National Commission for Refugees for Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRIP) to equip the returnees with life skills for sustainable livelihood.

    ITF’s Director-General Sir Joseph Ari said the training would begin as soon as the returnees’ profiling and needs assessments were concluded.

    Ari said the returnees will be trained, using the existing initiative and strategies by the ITF that are targeted at equipping the youth and indigents in Nigeria with skills for employability and entrepreneurship.

    He listed the vehicles to be used to include: the National Skills Development Programme (NISDP); the Passion to Profession Programme (P2PP); the Technical Skills Development Project (TSDP); the Construction Skills Empowerment Programme CONSEP) and the Agri-preneurship.

    He added that the Fund’s three mobile workshops, which are equipped with modern facilities for training of Nigerians in welding and fabrication, tailoring and fashion design, air conditioning and instrumentation will also be deployed for capacity development for the returnees just as the Fund’s five industrial skills training centres located in Ikeja, Lokoja, Abuja, Kano and Jos will also be used.

    The DG asserted that equipping Nigerians with skills will not only discourage the mass migration and the attendant fallouts as many Nigerians, particularly those vulnerable to the temptation of migrating, will be discouraged if fully engaged.

    In another development, the Fund, in tackling the soaring unemployment in the country despite Federal Government’s efforts, is set to increase its skills centres across the country in order to open up more opportunities for Nigerians willing to acquire skills. The Fund has therefore, said it will establish a new Industrial Skills Training Centre in Abia State.

    Arising from a three-day Retreat at the HBC Resort, Kuru, the Fund also resolved to establish a special Training Centre in Oil and Gas in Port Harcourt with emphasis on equipping Nigerians with skills in underwater welding, instrumentation and electronics.

    The new Training Centres, which will be completed between 2019 and 2021, will increase the Fund’s Skills Training Centres to seven.