The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to and enforce the new minimum wage Act as soon as passed by the Senate.
Mr Bashir Lawal, ASCSN Secretary-General, made the appeal on Thursday in Lagos in a congratulatory message to the president on his re-election.
Lawal said that Buhari should not delay in signing the new wage bill when ready.
He noted that the bill had already been approved by the House of Representatives.
Lawal commended the president for ensuring timely payment of workers’ salaries.
He said that it was good that the president did not lay off workers, noting that the labour market was over-saturated.
”We commend the president for ensuring that salaries and allowances of public servants are paid as and when due.
”We are happy that promotion arrears and outstanding salaries owed workers had been settled,” he said.
The ASCSN scribe said that there was no doubt that workers omitted or short-paid would be settled soonest.
He further hailed the president for keeping his promise to make unity colleges to remain a commonwealth.
He, however, advised Buhari to use the next four years to look at areas that would need improvement in order to enhance national cohesion, peace, prosperity and progress. (NAN)
The crisis in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has taken a new dimension, as protesting workers Monday called for the scrapping of the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).
This is the fifth day of the protest.
They insisted that the Scheme can operate without the intervention of the HMOs as it is being practiced in some African countries.
The Vice Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), NHIS chapter, Mr. Theophilus Egwadah, stated this while responding to questions from journalists in Abuja, Monday, in continuation of their protest for the Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf, to respect the suspension order given to him by the Governing Council.
While noting that HMOs are among the major problems hindering the progress of the NHIS, Egwadah however, insisted that Prof. Usman Yusuf must step aside pending the outcome of the investigation of the allegations leveled against him. .
The workers however, vowed not to work with Prof. Yusuf, reiterating that President Muhammadu Buhari should compel him to step aside.
Responding to the allegations that the union has been bought over by external influence, Egwadah noted: “HMOs are the intermediary between the regulator (NHIS) and the enrollees (the public). There is no personal relationship between me and the HMOs. In all the fora that I have attended, I have been telling them that HMOs are part of the problem we are having in NHIS.
“The HMOs are stakeholders and have been participating in the scheme even before I was employed. We told Prof. Yusuf that this thing has to do with legislation, until the legislation takes care of these HMOs to exit them.
“There are some African countries that are practicing their health insurance without HMOs. Some programmes like the Community Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS) we are running without HMOs, so the HMOs are only concern in the formal sector.”
He, however, said that not all HMOs are bad.
“It is not all of them that are bad, there are some of them that are actually killing the scheme which we know and we have suspended one of them, particularly, Precious HMO when there are reports of compromise.
“Prof Yusuf has not delisted any HMO, rather he is busy making noise in the media and revealing to them some of the strategies we wanted to use against them. He is fighting everybody, fighting the staff, the HMOs, fighting hospitals and everybody,” he said.
On the way forward for the scheme, he said: “The best option is for him to step aside.
“His appointment has not been terminated, the Council only said, go on suspension and let the committee carry out the investigation on these infractions.
“The EFCC and ICPC have been investigating this man since 2016, up till now they have not concluded the investigation.”
Also, the Chairman, Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN) and NHIS joint union, Comrade Olawuyi Kayode, called on Federal Government to mount pressure on Prof. Yusuf respects the order give to him as 2019 elections are at the corner.
“We need to help our president because election is around the corner and we don’t want the opposition party to use this as an advantage campaigning against our president.
“That is why we are shouting and clamouring that the appointing power lies with the president, which is not in doubt, but we want Professor Yusuf to step aside to answer to all these allegations and infractions that has been leveled against him.”
Staff of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission ( RMAFC ), have warned that the proposed new minimum wage may not materialize if the revenue formula is not addressed first.
In the early hours of Wednesday in Abuja staff of the RMAFC picketed the commission over poor funding and remuneration.
According to the Chairman of the Nigerian Civil Service Union ( NCSU ), unit of RMAFC, Comrade Josiah Amanabo, who addressed journalists in Abuja said “there is a clamour from states to review the revenue formula. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, wants to hide under the guise that the revenue allocation formula is not ready, to delay the new minimum wage.
“If there is no revenue allocation formula, there cannot be new minimum wage in September. RMAFC is the commission to carry out the revenue formula review. We don’t even have the funds to do this assignment.
“Nigerians might be thinking that the commission is not competent to carry out these functions, not knowing that it is a result of paucity of funds.
“This is an urgent call to the President; if truly his government wants the commission to carry out its function within a short period of time, then, the provision of adequate funding is imperative.”
“The RMAFC is not an appendage to the ministry of finance, but an independent and autonomous body; for that singular reason, it is expected of us to do our job. We have chartered accountants and other professionals from every field of endeavour in this institution, why giving our job to consultants to do?
According to him, “we are being frustrated in the dispensing of our jobs due to poor funding and sometimes no funding at all.”
Workers, Unions protesting in RMAFC office, AbujaEmpty office of the RMAFC during the protest/shut down
The protest and total shut down of the commission he said is a cry for the nation to see that the change mantra of the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration comes to fruition and that corruption is nipped in the bud.
According to him, “consultancy has taken away our jobs. Also, the board has not been constituted. The union complained about how dilapidated its building is due to paucity of funds to carry out maintenance.”
He lamented that the Ministry of Finance, was starving the institution of necessary funding, and has indirectly taken over the statutory responsibility of the institution, which is to monitor the accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the federation and to review from time to time the revenue formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities.
According to him, “how can you monitor people who are more than you financially?; poor funding is at the heart of our cry. How can you monitor agencies such as DPR, FIRS, Customs, NNPC etc., who enjoy percentages and cost of collection every month of release? What we want is cost of monitoring. How can I dress in a tattered way to monitor people whose suits are finer? I need a dress code to do my job,” he said.
Also, the chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria ( ASCSN ), unit of RMAFC, Mr. Martins Adeoye said: “Every revenue that goes into the federation account for distribution is shared by the three tiers of government.
“However, it is only the federal government that is funding the commission through its budgetary provision. How about funding from states and local governments? They are also beneficiaries of the federation accounts.
“We believe that they (states and LGs) should also assist the federal government in funding the commission. In so doing, we will have enough funds to carry out our operations.”
He also explained that the lacuna in funding is what the workers unions aim to address by picketing and protesting.
Commenting on the cry of the staff to get substantive Chairman and Secretary of the commission, Mr. Martins said: “for our operations here, every state of the federation including the FCT is being represented by a commissioner and a chairman. There ideally should be 37 commissioners and a chairman. Over the last two years, the number of commissioners have dropped from 37 to about six (6) as we speak. How do you expect six commissioners to carry out the functions and activities of 37 states?”
“The commission has an acting chairman after the tenure of the former chairman elapsed in 2015. We need a substantive chairman to take charge of the activities of the commission. We also want more commissioners to be appointed in the board,” he said.
Also, Dr Rosetta Adiotomre, secretary ASCSN, said: “we are also calling on the state governors to expedite action to fund us because the ministry of finance is starving us of funds. We do not only work for the FG, but also for states and LGs.
“We need the states to wake up to their responsibilities and fund the commission.”
The overall demonstration and protest by the staff of RMAFC was peaceful; even the police unit deployed to the premises acceded to the fact that it was a peaceful demonstration.
The workers and its union representatives later matched to the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to table its demands in a document.
The workers, in the document to the SGF declared their intents and implored the SGF to address issues of poor funding, constitution of the Board of the commission, filling of the vacant office of the Chairman and Secretary to the commission, appointment of more commissioners amongst others.
The letter was signed by the Chairmen of the Nigerian Civil Service Union (NCSU) and Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) – Comrade Josiah Amanabo and Comrade Martins Adeoye respectively.
The protest which is slated for two days (today and tomorrow) maybe called off once their demands are met.
When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the RMAFC, Mr. Ibrahim Muhammed, in responding to the protest in the commission said he had “no comment” to make regarding the protest and demands of the staff of the RMAFC.
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has told the Federal Government that the existence of salary disparity within the civil service was not encouraging productivity within the public service and asked the government to use the opportunity of the tripartite committee on minim wage to address the issue in the overall interest of workers.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the association in Abuja entitled: “Effective Labour-Management Relation: A Panacea for Industrial Peace and Harmony’’, Head of the Union Secretariat in Abuja, Isaac Ojemeke, said the call has become imperative, following the 30-man Tripartite Committee, recently inaugurated by the Federal Government for the negotiation of a new National Minimum Wage.
He said the tripartite committee on minimum wage should also look into the issue of disparity in salaries across ministries, departments and agencies if government, adding that while there are agencies that are earning so much, others are earning at the bottom level, saying “we believed that we are all graduates and products of the same federal or state institutions.
“That is whether they are called parastatals or departments, we are being paid from the same purse and the same employers but with different salary scales. We believe that this is what has increased corruption because if you look at your colleagues in other agencies earning higher than you who is even putting much effort, you feel discouraged.
“From our finding, this a major issue that needs to be looked into seriously as it increases corruption. So, we are calling on government to tackle this corruption headlong. There must be closure in that disparity gap.’’
Chairman of the Ministry of Labour and Employment branch of the union, Tommy Etim-Okon, called the tripartite committee to consider the plight of workers by approving the N56, 000 recommended by labour.
“Workers are deeply affected by economic realities because their salary has been stagnant and we all go to the same market with the high and mighty. So if this administration really wants to fight corruption, they should see minimum wage not at the point of the proposed N56, 000 because it cannot pay our children school fees.
“So, we want to plead with the Federal Government and the 30-man committee to ensure that the new minimum wage is not below N56, 000.’’
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bolaji Adebiyi, called on the union to embrace collective bargaining for industrial harmony to reign in the work place.
Adebiyi noted that the ministry had faced a lot of strikes in the past few months, noting that issues raised were on agreements entered by the previous administration.
He, however, assured workers that the present administration through the ministry was working towards ensuring that all issues were resolved for the benefits and welfare of workers.
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria ( ASCSN ) on Wednesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reshuffle his cabinet.
The call followed the controversy generated by the reinstatement of a former Chairman of Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Abdulrasheed Maina.
The Association’s General Secretary, Mr Alade Lawal, made the appeal in a statement in Lagos.
He said it was regrettable that Maina, who was sacked in 2013 for about N2 billion pension funds fraud, was “smuggled back” into the Federal Civil Service by key government officials.
“Information made available shows that the Attorney-General of the Federation ( AGF ) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami ( SAN ) and the Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahaman Dambazau know about the issue.
“The information shows that they cannot be entirely extricated from the conspiracy that led to the illegal re-absorption of Maina into the Civil Service,” he said.
Lawal commended the President for sacking Maina, but urged the Nigerian leader to to also sack those who were bent on ruining his reputation as a man of integrity.
He said that the consistent and persistent acts of impunity by some individuals in the cabinet had continued to embarrass the government.
“If the President does not replace some of his personal aides that are besmearing the image of his government, the impression will continue to be created that he may be privy to their actions,” he said.
Lawal said that it was absurd that somebody that was declared wanted by the EFCC and the International Police (Interpol) could arrive in the country and resume duty as a an Ag.Director in the Ministry of Interior without being apprehended.
He said it was unfortunate that such impunity had continued to give the country a bad image in the comity of nations.
Lawal said that those who conspired to reinstate Maina and gave him double promotion should be disciplined to serve as deterent to others.
He cited the Public Service Rule 030413 which stated that any officer who abandoned his or her duty post would be dismissed from service.
Organised Labour has said that the federal government was not sincere about paying the over N290 billion arrears of salaries and promotion arrears owed workers in the federal civil service, saying they may not be able to stop the workers from taking action for too long.
Labour said while the federal government was pressuring state government t and assisting the, with bail out to pay salaries and allowances owed workers in the various states, it was silent on the plight of workers in federal service whose promotion and other allowances dating back to 2007 has not been paid and has accumulated to over N290 billion.
Secretary General, Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Comrade Bashir Alade Lawal who disclosed this in an interview on the sideline of the 106th session of the International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland,
said since 2007, the government has failed to pay the workers arrears of promotion, transfer allowance and shortfall in salaries among others.
Comrade Lawal said the Federal Government was not sincere about the issue of the payment, adding that it was an irony that the Federal Government would give bail out to the state governments to pay the salaries and arrears of their workers while leaving its workers unpaid.
The labour leader said the workers are now restive, warning that the leadership may not be able to control them anymore, as the situation in many federal ministries and parastatals is getting out of control.
He said: “If you look at the entire problem, you will agree that government is not sincere with workers. This indebtedness date back to 2007, and you want to imagine that workers who are working are being promoted as at when due, but government is refusing to pay them their promotion arrears.
“Somebody that has been promoted from level 8 to 9, from 9 to 10, from 10 to 12 and so on, is still earning level 8 salary because the employer, which is the Federal Government has refused to do the right thing. So, this issue has brought this arrears that runs to N290 billion.
“The insincerity of the Federal Government is demonstrated in the first instance, when they gave bailout funds to states totaling about N734 billion. They asked the states to use their share to pay arrears of workers’ salaries. But the Federal Government failed to pay its own workers. That is the height of insincerity. Now, the Federal Government has accepted that there is a problem.
“As I speak with you, the situation is very tensed, workers are very restive and no labour leader can guarantee that the situation will not go out of hand. We are just trying to manage the situation, knowing some of the other challenges facing the country.”
Comrade Lawal expressed hope that the recent efforts by the National Assembly, Labour and the executive arm of government will resolve the issue and forestall imminent crisis, adding that Labour and the National Assembly had offered a window to be utilized to address the issue of N290 billion debt.
He said: “Now we have come together, including the National Assembly on the issue of this N290 billion. The National Assembly has offered a window that we should utilise what is currently in the budget. What is in the budget is N30 billion and so the two side would then meet and look at the possibility of packaging a sort of loan or bond to be able to sort this out.
“The N10 billion released by the government is just in the interim, to just start doing something. The N30 billion in the budget is not what is readily available because of the process involved before it can be accessed.
“However, the agreement we have with the National Assembly and other stakeholders is that as soon as the budget becomes law, the money will be released immediately. So, from the N290 billion, you would have sorted out 40 billion, remaining N250b billion.
“With the National Assembly, we are hopeful with the kind of interest shown, because most of the lawmakers saw what happened during May Day in Abuja where they were evacuated into their vehicles during workers’ reaction as a result of frustration.
“So, let us see the result of all these initiatives and hopefully the way we are looking at it that we will be able to sort it out this year. Anything short of that or should they decide to foot drag on this, I bet you even with the leadership of the union, peace will not guaranteed. ”
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had assured, that the government will go into bond market for funds to off-set all the arrears of salaries, promotion arrears and pension.
“We have taken step and initiated payment in that same direction. Before I left home, N10 billion was already being processed for promotion allowances arrears,before I left home sum of N14.6 billion has been expended in the areas of shortfall of salaries and as we go back home we have other machinery and plans to even go into bond market and get some funds to off set all these areas,” Ngige said.
Public Servants under the aegis of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) on Tuesday appealed to the Federal Government to pay workers arrears of promotion and other allowances.
Mr. Alade Lawal, Secretary General of the association who made the appeal in a statement in Lagos, said that civil servants were already planning an agitation over the unpaid allowances.
“The workers have concluded mobilisation to shut activities of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) at the federal level.
“This action will be carried out unless government takes urgent steps to pay promotion arrears, outstanding salaries and other allowances to the public servants in the next few weeks,” Lawal said.
He said that more than one year after the promotion arrears were computed by a Presidential Committee and report submitted to the Presidency, government had continued to delay on the payment.
Lawal said that the issue of unpaid entitlements have remained unattended to while the workers struggled to make ends meet in the recession period.
The ASCSN scribe said that office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had issued a circular directing all MDAs to compile the total sum involved in respect of the unpaid entitlements of their employees.
He said that money included promotion arrears in some cases since 2007, burial expenses, repatriation allowance, training allowance among others.
The scribe urged the Federal Government to pay workers the money as it had shown support to the states by providing a bailout fund twice in the past one year.
Lawal further said that balance of the indebtedness should be captured in the 2017 budget estimate so that payment could be made in the course of the year without going through the virement process.
