The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • PTAD pays over N7b to 236,705 pensioners in August

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has paid retirees who are under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) for last month.

    In a statement by PATD’s Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Emma Okondo, said  about N7.5 billion was paid to 236,705 Pensioners under the scheme.

    It stated that PTAD was committed to keeping its promise of making prompt payment to pensioners when due.

    In a related event, the Association of Retired Police officers of Nigeria (ARPON), Kano State Chapter, has appealed to the National Assembly to fast-track the amendment of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

    Its Secretary, Saidu Garba, said the amendment would pave way for the exclusion of its members from the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    Garba said it was the desire of the association across the three states of Kano, Katsina, and Jigawa, who are members of the chapters, for the Federal Government to revert to the previous Police Pension Scheme.

    “We are using this medium to express our willingness and desire as police pensioners under this scheme, to be excluded from the Contributory Pension Scheme,’’ he said.

  • NUPENG condemns move to whittle down  NAPIMS’s powers

    NUPENG condemns move to whittle down  NAPIMS’s powers

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has condemned the move to whittle down the regulatory powers of the Nigerian Petroleum Investment Management Services Limited (NAPIMS) in the new petroleum policy approved by the Federal Executive Council.

    In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Joseph Ogbebor, the union noted that it would resist the move to strip NAPIMS of its responsibility of regulatory costing of projects and use of an independent consultant.

    “We kick against it because of the past failures of government restructuring and privatisation processes of PHCN and others,” the union said.

    NUPENG stated that it is a way of robbing Peter to pay Paul by pushing the costing of projects to an independent regulator, which would emerge from the restructuring of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

    The union said the move was self-serving, selfish, unjustifiable, not workable, uncalled for and meant to serve the interest of the promoter; and will do the oil and gas industry no good.

    The union, therefore, called for its stoppage or it may be forced to embark on an industrial action to reverse the trend.  NUPENG believes that the process will not be transparent and can be teleguided.

    It said NAPIMS, established to manage the Federal Government’s investments and interests in the upstream sector of the oil industry, had done well in its regulatory functions, with all the 10 divisions working; and it should therefore not be used as a blackmail to score cheap political points.

    The union, therefore, called on the Federal Government to forget about  the plan and not gazette it as it is meant to satisfy certain selfish interests and not for the sector to move forward.

    “NUPENG will not fold its hands and see any form of restructuring in NAPIMS that will lead to job losses, as it must be resisted,” it stated.

  • Declare state of emergency on unemployment, says union

    Concerned over the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, the President of Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), Comrade Oyinkansola Olasanoye, has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on unemployment.

    Speaking with The Nation, Comrade Olasanoye said  the rate of unemployment was alarming, pointing out  that statistics  by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that over 27 million Nigerian youths were unemployed, while over 70 million people were under-employed.

    According to Olasanoye, the number is more than Ghana’s population and that of Benin Republic.

    “We are looking at a situation where we have a whole nation not employed in some other countries.”

    “So, we have over 27 million who live on less than a dollar per day, and we have over 70 million people under-employed; these are people who are working, but by international standard practice, earn far less than what they ought to.

    “This rate is alarming and notable Nigerians ought to talk about it. We understand that the government has done their bit to help Nigerians in reducing the state of unemployment in the country, but more needs to be done,” she said.

    She noted that Nigerians are suffering, and that the government should look at the issue more critically, adding that it is when the Federal Government declares a state of emergency on unemployment in the country that most unemployed youths would be employed.

    She said: “Young people entering the labour market today face the daunting task of first finding decent jobs and then keeping them when they do.

    “Unemployment rates are on the rise again. Indeed, two out of every five young women and men in the country are unemployed or working but living in poverty.

    “To be effective, however, government finances have to be in relatively good shape. Thus, as recession arrived since 2016, fiscal expansion should be implemented immediately, before the economic downturn itself leads to a significant worsening of the budget balance.

    “An example of such an approach is the Youth Guarantee programme, which was introduced in the European Union in 2014. It is intended to provide young people, who are neither working nor in education, with quality education, training or work. The Youth Guarantee is by its nature countercyclical, expanding during lows in the economic cycle when youth joblessness tends to rise”.

  • AUPCTRE challenges Fed Govt on workers’ promotion arrears

    AUPCTRE challenges Fed Govt on workers’ promotion arrears

    The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Technical and Recreational Employees (AUPCTRE) has appealed to the Federal Government to expedite action on the payment of promotion arrears to public servants.

    Its Chairman, Federal Capital Territory Chapter, Mr. Benjamin Anthony, made the appeal in a statement issued in Abuja.

    Anthony said: “The payment will go a long way in alleviating the pains of the workers in view of the current economic crunch.’’

    He praised the Federal Government for the approval of N44 billion for the payment of backlog of promotion arrears, salary shortfalls and other claims owed the federal public servants since year 2012.

    According to him, the present administration deserve a special commendation for the giant stride that will encourage workers to put in their best for the country’s development.

    Anthony said this was in spite of the economic challenges facing the country.

    He also urged AUPCTRE leaders in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure strict compliance and implementation of proper placement of salary steps of workers.

    The AUPCTRE chairman said that a circular from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation dated July 14, 2014 marked “HCSF/CSO/HRM/POL.1402/1/25’’ had directed the implementation.

    He said  the circular was, however, not being implemented by many MDAs as directed by the government.

    Anthony said the union observed with dismay that many organisations claimed ignorance of the circular and, in the process, wrongly placed their workers on salary steps during promotion.

  • ‘Attack on EFCC’s office is audacity of corruption’

    ‘Attack on EFCC’s office is audacity of corruption’

    The Nigeria Labour Congres (NLC) has described the recent attack by gun men on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commision (EFCC) Abuja office as an “audacity of corruption. The NLC, threfore, urged the commission and other related agencies to beef up security on their premises and personnel.

    It also charged the commission not ot succumb to intimidation, rather to do all necessary to secure the organisation.

    In a statement  signed by the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, he noted that the organisation needed technical support to build its forensic capacity without which cases would be lost or drag on indefinitely in court, thus, exposing the personnel to danger.

    “We also find it necessary to call on the government to give the commission the requisite support, including the setting up of dedicated courts for speedy disposal of corruption cases,” he said.              Wabba said the recent attack the battleground from the court room to the streets, and should be condemned by all those who love the country.

    According to him, the attack was intended to deter operatives of the EFCC from carrying on to a logical conclusion their ongoing investigations/prosecutions.

    He said: “In light of an earlier attack during which an operative sustained injuries, this cannot be a lone incident. Indeed, we see it as the new phase of corruption fighting back.

    “While we are not insensitive to the manifest danger in this new phase of corruption fighting back, we urge the commission and its operatives not to succumb to these desperate tactics or intimidation.”

    Wabba stated that Labour had no doubt that the resort to violence showed that those behind the attack have come to their wits’ end.

    In a related development, the NLC has taken a swipe at the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Prof Itse Sagay, over his call to move workers minimum wage law from the exclusive to the concurrent legislative list.

    Wabba stated this in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, after the launch of the congress’ annual Rain School Programme.

    Wabba said the PACAC chairman has neglected the work of the committee he has been saddled with but ventured  into an area that he has scanty knowledge about.

    The NLC boss accused Sagay of not delivering on the Committee’s Mandate of taming corruption in the country, urging him to focus on that assignment rather than making suggestions outside the purview of the committee.

    Wabba said that a country that pays its workers poorly can never reduce corruption to the barest minimum, stressing that even a layman knows that poorly paid workers would not be in a position to resist corrupt tendencies.

    He said that Nigerian workers would resist any attempt to move the Minimum Wage Law to the concurrent list because other nations’ minimum wage is a national issue in their constitutions.

  • Nigeria not out of recession, union claims

    The National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE) has said reports by the government that Nigeria was on  its way out of recession were mere propaganda.

    At the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union in Owerri, the Imo State capital, NUSDE National President Kelly Ogbaloi said it would be wrong to accept that recession was no more when there had not been any reduction in prices of goods and services.

    He said: “It has to be made clear that recession cannot be ordinary calculations in figure and ‘maradonic’ statistics; it is something tangibly felt by every worker that lives in Nigeria.

    “It means true poverty, hunger, diseases and sickness. It is the denial of basic education, health care and other social services. It is the violation of the right and privileges of the working people as employers of labour now cut corners in the circumstance to beat the stronghold of recession, and thereby traumatise the workers and decent work escapes to oblivion.”

    Ogbaloi expressed concerns that workers’ children could not go to good school because of high fees, adding that staple food still remained unaffordable.

    He called on the government to be disposed to what the people need, noting that the communities and other bodies that elected them should see the government working well.

    According to him, political leadership was a framework for delivering benefits to the people, touching the life of the average citizen, affordability of good housing by the people and other infrastructure that make governance meaningful.

  • NLC seeks compensation scheme expansion

    NLC seeks compensation scheme expansion

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has decried the implementation of the Employees Compensation Scheme (ECS) in the formal sector.

    Its President, Ayuba Wabba, stated this when he received the Managing Director of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Adebayo Somefun, and his management team at the NLC headquarters, in Abuja.

    He said social security coverage, workmen compensation and occupational health and safety were critical to workers, and that everyone should be covered.

    His words: “The progress of implementation has not been at the scale labour expected. Up till now, not all employers have registered in the Employee Compensation Scheme (ECS) and many employees are still left out of the coverage. NSITF has huge operational challenges.

    “In most countries, every employer is mandated to join the scheme and as such, every employee is covered but in our case here, there are many employers in the small-scale and informal sectors that are still not part of the scheme and workers are still not taken care of when they sustain injury in the workplace.

    “I think there is still a lot of work to be done to expand the coverage. We should be able to cover all active workers in the economy and all workers are supposed to have social protection because that is important.”

    Wabba stressed the need to educate workers and employers on the importance of the scheme by extending the campaign to the workplace.

    “More importantly, we need to take the implementation of ECS to the workplace because no matter how good a policy is; it will be meaningless to the people if not well implemented. We have not been able to drive it to the workplace and driving it there is urgently required. The task before the new management is the expansion of the scheme to capture most workers in the country.

    “Also, the quality of both the compensation and rehabilitation package of injured workers should be done to be more meaningful to those covered,” Wabba said.

    Somefun lauded the NLC for spearheading the struggle to improve workers’welfare, describing the labour as a worthy partner in the implementation of the ECS.

    While the NSITF would improve payment of compensation to injured workers, Somefun said the regions and branches of the organisation would be empowered to process payment of compensation.

    “While we are very prompt in the payment of compensation to injured workers, we recognise that we must continue to improve on what we are doing.

    “One of the steps to make the payment of compensation faster is to allow the branches and regions, not only to process payment documents, but make actual payment,” he said.

  • Autonomy: NULGE for nationwide rally

    Autonomy: NULGE for nationwide rally

    The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) will begin a nationwide rally at the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly to mobilise for local councils’ autonomy on  Monday.

    Its Acting General Secretary, Chuks Aguonye, said in Abuja that mobilisation would begin from Zamfara and Anambra states on August 21, and end on Thursday, September 14, in Sokoto State.

    He said the rally was to prevail on the Houses of Assembly and governors to join the National Assembly, which has already voted for local governments autonomy.

    Aguonye alleged that some governors were behind the inability of the National Assembly to pass the Local Government Autonomy bill into law.

    He said: “The two chambers of the National Assembly have passed the bill and have transmitted same in addition to other bills to states Houses of Assembly as required by law.

    “The Seventh National Assembly attempted to amend the 1999 Constitution, which it passed on the local government autonomy bill; unfortunately, it failed to get the two-third majority of the states Houses of Assembly.’’

    Aguonye continued: “Available evidence confirmed that the failure of the state assemblies to get the required two-thirds majority was attributable to the dictates and influence of governors who wanted to control councils’ funds but this time around, the union will not allow what happened in the last assembly to repeat itself.

    “In view of the above, it has become necessary for the national leadership to act fast. Therefore, at the end of an emergency NEC meeting of the union, it was agreed that rallies should be held in the 36 states capital across the country, whether or not such rallies have been held before now.

    “Accordingly, all state chapters of the union have been directed to mobilise all our members for peaceful rallies on a date assigned to them as one of the programmes slated for this campaign at this stage,” he said.

    Lamenting the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari, who, he said, promised to ensure the bill was passed into law, Aguonye revealed that the union has set aside a day within the week pray for his quick recovery.’’

  • SMEDAN, NDDC partner on Southsouth growth

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) will continue to work with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to achieve its mandate of developing Southsouth, Director-General Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, has said.

    He spoke during a meeting with the NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Nsime Nkere, at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja.

    Radda acknowledged the importance of the agency in helping to actualise the mandate of the commission, adding that the agency was set up to facilitate the development and promotion of MSMEs, and that the visit of Nkere to the agency was commendable.

    He added that the agency was well- positioned to create jobs and alleviate poverty and ready to work with the NDDC in implementing its work plan for the development of the region.

    Radda said the agency has 23 Industrial Development Centres (IDCs) nationwide, which provide technical manpower for industries , adding that four of these centres are located in the Niger Delta Region.

    He lamented that facilities in the IDCs are dilapidated with most of the equipment obsolete coupled with the problem of land encroachment.

    The Director-General however stated that the Agency received a grant from the African Development Bank (ADB) to study how the IDCs can be turned around to become enterprise clusters.

    According to him, SMEDAN is planning to convert the IDCs into enterprise clusters where enterprises involved in similar products and activities will be located in the same place with all necessary machines, equipment and trainings provided for them.

    He emphasised that being in the same location makes it easier for regulatory agencies to monitor their performances for financial institutionsto enable provide loans and help to facilitate linkage to markets for their products and services.

    Radda assured the NDDC chief that SMEDAN would collaborate with his commission to see how both institutions could develop the IDCs in the Niger Delta Region.

  • Union decries high rate of casualisation

    The National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) has expressed concern over what it described as the alarming rate of outsourcing and casualisation in the chemical sector.

    Its President, Goke Olatunji, said it was a deliberate attempt by some employers to prevent their employees from unionism.

    Emphasising that it was a trend that negates the ILO convention on rights of a worker, the NUCFRLANMPE chief said leaders of the union had, therefore, resolved at the National Administrative and Central Working Committee meeting held at the weekend in Sango Ota, Ogu State, to take on any erring employer.

    Olatunji said the union had written the employers on the need to respect labour laws and conventions.

    “We all understand the situation in the country and empathise with some of our employers, but most of them, irrespective of the situation in the country,are still breaking even and have failed to do what is lawful,” he said.

    Olatunji condemned the situation where Nigerians were being used as slaves in their country, while foreign employers repatriate all the benefits entitled to the workers to their own countries.

    He said the union would support the committee put in place by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to fight casualisation and other anti-worker policies in the workplace.

    “Nigerian workers are the ones oiling the machinery of this economy and are supposed to be treated fairly; a casual worker is underpaid, works several hours, is not entitled to any benefit whatsoever, all these must stop. Nigerian workers, irrespective of their standard, deserve to be treated fairly,” he said.

    The NUCFRLANMPE leader, however, praised all employers who have begun the implementation of the National Joint Industrial Committee agreement that was signed  some months ago.

    He also advised those yet to commence payment not to delay any further, while he maintained  that the issue of gratuities of union’s members would be vigorously pursued.

    Olatunji said the union, as a way of beating the present economic challenges and help some of its members already out of job, is diversifying into other investments that will further boost its financial capacity.

    “Right now, the only major source of income is through check-off dues. So, the meeting has called  for  the speedy completion of our on-going ultra-modern shopping complex project as well as fashion out ways of  going into small medium enterprises geared towards empowering members of the union,” he said.