The Nation Newspaper

Category: Labour

  • ‘Eco-Atlantic City FTZ’ll generate over 400, 000 jobs’

    The Managing Director of Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Hon. Emmanuel Jime, has said  the Eco-Atlantic City Free Trade Zone (FTZ) will generate over 400, 000 jobs for Nigerians upon completion.

    Jime, who said this in Lagos during his fact-finding/familiarisation tour of the Eco-Atlantic City in Victoria Island, pointed out that the biggest social challenge of the moment was unemployment, and a private sector initiative that can employ over 400,000 Nigerians cannot be toyed with.

    His words: “Part of our long-running challenge is unemployment. And a private sector initiative like the Eco-Atlantic is our Golden Egg; we cannot afford to play with it.

    “In the next five years, with this place running at full capacity, the volume of activity here would be unprecedented in terms of multiple economic activities, chain financial reactions, foreign exchange earnings, a cocktail of economic activities, big-time tourism, manufacturing etc.’’

    Jime continued: “Our challenge is to help these type of enterprises by incentivising them so they can come in and ginger up our economy.The construction of this city from reclaimed land, in my opinion, is in line with the deliberate policy thrust of the administration to partner with the private sector to push our industrial growth by way of attracting foreign direct investment. (FDI).”

    The NEPZA boss said it was part of his deliberate plan get as much information as possible before settling down to chart the way forward.

    “So, we have come here to rub mind minds with stakeholders such as this one so as to know the issues on ground. And in doing this, we are also trying to explain to people what NEPZA is all about, why we are here, what our mandate is, and how they can buy into it so together, we can make Nigeria an industrial giant.

    “Believe me when I say I am totally taken in by what I have seen on ground here. This type of industrial miracle is happening in our time, and we are privileged to be the midwives of this New Nigeria, a New Nigeria that is not hostage to a mono-economy.

    “We are going to be working with otheragencies of government like Customs, like Immigrations … in a concerted effort to makes the operating environment conducive for investment. I mention these two especially because they are critical to our plan of driving this process forward.”

    Earlier in his welcome address, the Managing Director of South Energyx Nig. (Limited) (Managers of the city),  Jacques Zartarian, the construction of the Great Wall of Lagos by the Eco-Atlantic City has saved Victoria Island, Oniru and Lekki from being swallowed by the ocean.

  • ‘Why private sector can’t pay minimum wage’

    ‘Why private sector can’t pay minimum wage’

    The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has explained why its members could not pay the proposed national minimum wage.

    Its Director-General, Mr Olusegun Oshinowo, said at a briefing in Lagos that they could not pay because of the  recession which has effected  their members’ businesses.

    He said the association  would canvass this position at the National Minimum Wage Committee meeting.

    He maintained that all stakeholders should join hands with the government to ensure job security and job creation.

    He  said: “There was, indeed, an understanding that the National Minimum Wage would be due for discussion after five years and the demand for pay rise by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria(TUC) was legitimate.

    He, however, said there was a procedure for the discussion of the National Minimum Wage, which entailed the setting up of a National Minimum Wage Committee comprising representatives of the Federal Government, led by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, state governments, usually represented by three  governors, NECA and organised labour as represented by NLC and TUC.

    He emphasised that it was the responsibility of the committee to sort out the issue of review or maintain the status quo, adding that upward review was inappropriate.

    He debunked claims in some quarters that opening discussions on the  minimum wage would  translate into unsustainable wage increase.

    He added: “The beauty of collective bargaining is the opportunity to come to the table with constructive positions and submissions. The principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day. Conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. It would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed.”

  • Looted funds weakening financial system, says ASSBIFI

    Looted funds weakening financial system, says ASSBIFI

    The Association Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has said looted funds  are affecting the financial system.

    The union said the financial system remained weak in liquidity and undercapitalised because stolen funds were in private vaults and were accounted for in the financial system.

    In a statement signed by its President, Comrade Oyinkansola Olasanoye, the union said the wealth of the nation, the basic infrastructure that the people have been denied, the healthcare that the people lack are in the funds locked up in private vaults of privileged individuals who have their way into the nation’s treasury whether named or not.

    “Nigerians of all tribes and languages have been continually caught by surprise at every instance of cash piles and dollar caches discovered in various private vaults, safes, underground and surface tanks and in private locked up shops across the nation.

    “In some interesting cases, the ownership of the cash is left to the speculation of the public with laughable accusation and counter accusations.

    “The cash which comes in foreign currencies and our local higher denominations was even abandoned at the airport lounge on an occasion in a most dramatic fashion,” she said.

    Olasanoye urged  the government to continue to strengthen the relevant anti-corruption institutions and build a strong system around strong values and beyond personalities, adding  that government should encourage people to speak the truth to power at all levels, whether through citizens’ media or the regular mass media.

    She said  the government should go beyond the financial reward to whistleblowers, and put in place laws that will protect the whistleblowers against any form of retaliation.

    “We also encourage our members in the insurance and banking sector to get involved in the whistle blowing of any person or persons known to them to be involved in the practice of cash racketeering. This is intended to save our system

    “That ASSBIFI shall continue to support the efforts of government to rid the financial system of corruption at all levels. We therefore demand that anti-corruption agencies should intensify efforts into preventive activities by working hand in hand with the financial system operators and regulators in ensuring that access to such cash is prevented at the commercial banks and the CBN.

    “The government must not mistake the shocked silence of the populace for ambivalence as the people shall demand in due course a more proactive approach to anti-corruption as against the present reactionary trend,” she said.

    She said the people shall desire to see a more diligent prosecution of corruption cases and a stem in the tide of corruption cases being lost to lack of diligent prosecution.

  • CVL trains youths on entrepreneurship

    To address unemployment in the country, Centre For Values in Leadership (CVL) has commenced the training of 400 youths in four cities.

    Speaking with The Nation, CVL founder, Prof Pat Utomi said: “Warri is the third of four cities where the centre is conducting the training for 400 would-be entrepreneurs in Delta State. Other towns are Ibusa, Agbor and Ozoro. Training has commenced at Ibusa and Agbor.”

    He added that the programme was a year-long training in entrepreneurship in the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) of CVL.

    He explained that the 100 youths from Warri emerged from a pool of 726 candidates, pointing out that the 400 participants would receive training worth N3.5million per head over the period. Their curriculum will include self-mastery, pedagogy of the determined, marketing, entrepreneurship, finance and operations. There would also be free vocational skills training.

    Utomi said participants would go for internship in organisations in Onitsha, Benin and Asaba, adding that they would also deploy the vocational skills developed in their training in a community service project to construct prefabricated houses from imported kits.

    He added that CVL would donate the homes worth N2 million each to widows and elderly females who have housing challenges.

    Under the Programme, CVL would partner several organisations and individuals to teach, mentor and guide the participants.

  • Union reinforces strategy to strengthen performance

    The National President, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Comrade S. A. Adelegan, has declared that the extraordinary National Governing Council (NGC) meeting in Bauchi was an opportunity to analyse its strengths, challenges and proffer solutions.

    Speaking at the opening of the meeting, he said the union would  evaluate the government activities at all levels as they affect the union’s  membership, work and the citizens.

    AUPCTRE Bauchi chapter Chairman, Comrade Abdullahi Ibrahim, said the meeting was coming at a time workers were being faced with non-payment of their salaries.

    He noted that where the salaries were even paid, it did not satisfy half of the needs due to inflation.

    Governor Mohammed Abubakar promised to maintain a good relationship, saying that his administration had done much to sanitise the state’s civil service from its earlier state.

    He said he inherited a loaded civil service and a huge wage bill that could not be justified.

    “This necessitated us to set up various committees towards sanitising the system aimed at improving service delivery to the entire people of the state.

    “I am happy to say that the relationship between the government and the labour unions has been cordial since the inception of this administration. I assure you that we will maintain the cordial relationship so that we will continue to enjoy industrial harmony in the state,” he said.

  • Lagos Trust Fund to create 900,000 jobs

    The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) is to provide 900,000 jobs and support 100,000 medium scale enterprises in the state between now and 2019, its Executive Secretary, Akintunde Oyebode, has said.

    He spoke ahead of the Fund’s  workshop for business owners in the state.

    He said the development was necessary to create a viable business environment in Lagos.

    He emphasised that the agency was mandated to provide training and job placements for the unemployed; mentorship for business owners and improvement of the policy environment to ensure a conducive operational environment for small businesses in the state.

    He explained that the workshop was being targeted at the LSETF beneficiaries who qualify for export because of the goods they produce, adding that the agency intended to provide business support, advisory services and access to new markets for all its beneficiaries.

    ‘’That is why we have partnered  the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) to help achieve this. In addition to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council sessions, we will also have facilitators from the Nigerian Customs Service and NAFDAC,” he said.

    In a related event, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has charged the state civil servants to be transparent in government activities, finances and create a simple bureaucratic process for its citizens.

    He urged the civil servants to comply with global best practices to meet the needs of the people. Ambode, who was represented by the Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Dr. Benson Oke, spoke on global best practice with reporters in Lagos.

    He pointed out that the state had embarked on massive training for workers on how to deliver value per excellence through global best practices.

    He called on the workers to provide citizens with the information they need on how to process their requests, stressed that this would enable the citizens to complete their transactions and processes on time.

    The governor also urged workers to exhibit good interpersonal relationship in the discharge of their responsibilities to enable the public to have hitch-free transactions.

    He said: “Indeed, the delivery of value to citizens is the fundamental objective of any democratically-elected government. In today’s world, however, the delivered value must be delivered per excellence. This is chiefly because citizens have become sophisticated and exposed to the standards of governance in other climes such that their expectations have been conditioned to demand and insist on compliance with global best practices at all levels of governance. Meeting these expectations is the central challenge for governments in the developing world.

    “Thankfully in Lagos State, we have a government that has boldly embraced this challenge and is, in fact, executing a reasoned-out plan to transform governance and its processes in such a way that the ever-changing and complex expectations of citizens can be admirably met.”

  • Make minimum wage a priority – labour leader tells Buhari

    The President, National Union of Chemical Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Methallic Products Employees (NUCFRLMPE), Mr. Goke Olatunji, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to make the payment of new minimum wage a priority.

    Olatunji who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday, added that government should look into the minimum wage issue because it is of utmost importance.

    NAN recalled that the NLC in April 2016 officially submitted a report to demand for N56, 000 minimum wages.

    NAN also reported that the Technical Committee on Minimum Wage had submitted its report one year after the committee was set up by the Federal Government.

    According to Olatunji, government should implement the wage without allowing it to cause inflation for it not to lose its relevance.

    “The present N18, 000 minimum wages is not able to buy anything from the market. We want the government to increase it but it should not lead to inflation.

    “Federal Government should ensure that the states and private sector should be able to implement the policy when an agreement is being reached,’’ the union president said.

    He said that the workers have bore lots of pain because of the economic recession and needed to be compensated.
    Olatunji said that business activities during recession period made the economy unpleasant both for workers and employers, hence the May Day event would be marked in a low key.
    “Before, companies such as Unilever Plc will give workers products, provide transportation and send at least 100 people to the stadium for the celebration of May Day.
    “But now, the company will give money to hire a bus and send 25 to 50 workers to the rally that is the reason for celebrating workers day this year in a low key,’’ Olatunji said.

    He said that if the economy does not improve, workers welfare would be retarded and urged the government to formulate policies that would bring relief to Nigeria workers and ensure that it was well implemented.

    On foreign exchange, the NUCFRLMPE president commended the government for improving the release of Forex to companies.

    He said that poor access to Forex in 2016 had intermittently stalled productivity of chemical and footwear companies and had led to sack of some workers

     

  • Pensioners are suffering, says NLC

    Pensioners are suffering, says NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress  (NLC) has said pensioners are suffering because of the inability of the  Federal Government to remit accrued pension funds of its retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS), which came into force in 2004.

    It warned that the future of the CPS was under threat if the government did not move fast to remit the cash.

    Speaking at the congress of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, said the CPS was being threatened by the non-compliance of its major stakeholders, especially employers.

    He decried the prevailing situation whereby retirees under the scheme  suffer alot of hardship to access their funds.

    According to him, if the challenges in the scheme were not addressed, the scheme would hit the rocks soon.

    Ayuba said: “Issues of payment of benefit in Nigeria have become a nightmare. This needs to be addressed.”

    NUP President, Dr. Abel Afolayan, highlighted some of the challenges confronting the scheme.

    He said the failure of the Federal Government to release funds had  made pensioners to suffer deprivation, lamenting that no retiree had been paid since October 2015.

    Many next of kin of deceased pensioners, he said, had not been able to access the entitlements of their relations, and that this has made life unbearable for the beneficiaries.

    He said: “Many organisations of government and employers have been defaulting on the regular remittances of contributions of workers to their pension fund administrators; this is affecting the philosophy of the scheme.

    “Non-compliance with Section 173 (3) and Section 210 (3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and section 15 of the 2014 Pension Reform Act (as amended) stipulates that pension shall be reviewed after every five years  or whenever workers salaries are reviewed, whichever one that is earlier. Non-compliance with the provisions of this law by government has made the contributory pensioners lose 15 per cent pension increase of 2007 and 33 per cent increase in 2010.”

  • NECA cautions on minimum wage review

    NECA cautions on minimum wage review

    Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has urged stakeholders in the socio-labour community and players in the Nigerian Industrial Relations’ System to be circumspect in their pursuit of increased minimum wage.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, said  private operators may not be able to increase wages now.

    According to him, economic depression has affected employers and their businesses have nose- dived, causing some to reduce  workers or close shop.

    He said: “There was indeed an understanding that the national minimum wage would be due for discussion after five years. In effect, the 2011 agreement, ordinarily, should be open for discussion in 2016. The clamour for discussions by the NLC and TUC is therefore legitimate.

    “There is a time-tested and enshrined procedure for the discussion of the national minimum wage, which entails the setting up of a National Minimum Wage Committee comprising representatives of the Federal Government, led by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, state governments, usually represented by three state governors, employers in the private sector under the aegis of NECA and organised labour as represented by NLC and TUC”.

    Oshinowo said the principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day during minimum wage dialogue, and that conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. He said it would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed.

    He said: “the issue of procedure should be separated from the substance or subject. Hence, the imperative to respect procedure should take precedence over substance. It is the responsibility of the committee to sort out the issue of desirability of review or sustenance of status quo in the event that timing for upward review is inappropriate.”

    On the fear in some quarters that opening discussions on the national minimum wage will automatically translate into an unsustainable wage increase, he debunked such notion, noting that “the beauty of collective bargaining is the opportunity to come to the table with constructive positions and submissions. The principle of reasonableness and superior arguments has always carried the day. Conclusions at the platform would not necessarily be for or against increase. It would be to examine the need for or against and justifications for whatever positions are canvassed”.

    In response to the ability of employers for a new wage level, against the backdrop of the economic recession and its attendant devastating effects on organised businesses, Oshinowo stated that “the private sector cannot afford a pay increase at this point in time. This is the position the employers will canvass at the National Minimum Wage Committee”.

    He added: “The priority now should be for all stakeholders to join hands with government to deliver on inclusive growth that will ensure job security and job creation”.

  • NUPENG to Fed Govt: create agency to protect pipelines

    NUPENG to Fed Govt: create agency to protect pipelines

    The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has appealed to the Federal Government to create a Pipeline Protection Agency (PPA) that will be saddled with the protection of pipelines.

    Its President, Comrade Igwe Achese, gave the advice in Lagos, saying the agency should be well funded and equipped with modern gadgets like alarms, sensors and helicopters and gunships with night vision.

    Commending the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for re-opening Mosimi Depot, NUPENG said the development would make distribution of petroleum products to the South- west easy and reduce the pressure on petroleum tankers that throng the Lagos axis to load.

    He urged the NNPC to also re-open the  System B line so that petroleum products could be dispensed through that line.

    According to him, the NNPC should go further to reactivate and re-open other moribund depots in  the county.

    Achese lauded the corporation’s management under Dr. Maikanti Baru for the increase in refining capacity of the four refineries by 29 per cent.

    He added that the new model of each refinery purchasing crude oil at export parity price, processing and selling the products on its own account was in order.