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Tag: Chris Ngige

  • FG won’t succumb to threats, Ngige tells labour unions

    FG won’t succumb to threats, Ngige tells labour unions

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige on Wednesday declared that the Federal Government will not succumb to threats from labour unions in the country.

    The labour unions, he said, cannot achieve anything through threats except dialogue.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after FEC meeting.

    He said “Government is on the issue of industrial relations as possible as we can, especially with an economy that is in technical recession like ours.

    “We have cooperation from most of the unions: the NLC and the TUC. We have maximum cooperation from them.

    “On the minimum wage issue, we have a technical committee that is working and members of the two congresses are members of that committee. We are almost finishing our work and we are handing over next week.

    “Everybody knows that prices have gone up and in some states, workers are not getting salaries. They are unable to pay the minimum wage. These are the things we have taken into account in our discussion.

    “We also have warnings from doctors’ union and ASUU as well as NASU. We are discussing with them but we want to appeal to all of them that there is nothing like warning strike.

    “There is nothing you cannot get by negotiation and you cannot get certain things by threats. Warning strikes as far as government is concerned are threats. I have made it clear to them.” he said

    Government and labour laws, he said, make provision for social dialogue and collective bargaining agreements.

    “It also makes provision for the review of the agreements. Nigerian unions should imbibe the culture of social dialogue. They can go on strike after giving the mandatory notices but the same law says in Section 43 that if you withdraw your services, your union is supposed to pay you. Your employer will not pay. That is how the issue of no work, no pay came up.

    “It is in the country’s labour. For the period you withdraw your services, it will not count for you in your pensionable times. It is taken as broken service. The unions have the responsibility to lecture their members on this.

    “If your employer has not complied with an agreement, you take him back to negotiation table or he can ask you for a re-negotiation.

    “Everything is about money and funding. Most of those agreements are not backed by appropriation. Government at times because of threats and pressures from the unions succumb to certain conditions that are not implementable.

    “We have a lot of them and that is why the university unions will now have to go back for renegotiation for the 2009 agreement they had with the Federal Government.

    “We want them to give government a chance. Government has a human face; we are human,” he stated

     

  • Unemployment rate in Nigeria unacceptable, says Ngige

    Unemployment rate in Nigeria unacceptable, says Ngige

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige has said that the current unemployment rate in the country was unacceptable to the Buhari administration as no nation can develop by leaving out a vast percentage of its productive human capacity.
    Deputy Director, Press in the Ministry, Samuel Olowokoore quoted the Minister as saying that the Buhari government was committed to job creation and the provision of decent employment opportunity for Nigerians within the productive age.
    A statement from the Ministry said the Minister spoke at a validation workshop on the reviewed the National Employment Policy (NEP), organised by the Ministry in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.
    He stressed that “there is urgent need to engage a larger percentage of the productive age in decent, fairly remunerated and sustainable means of livelihood either as wage earners or self-employed, while preserving existing gainful employments.”
    Senator Ngige disclosed that towards ensuring inclusive national employment policy, the revised NEP addresses concerns such as employment of the physically challenged, international labour migration, decent work components, and higher education for employability including green jobs amongst others.
    He advocated objective and assiduous cooperation of all stakeholder and the entire citizens to the development of the country towards surmounting the current challenges facing Nigeria.
    According to the Minister, “the country is currently facing difficult times in the annals of its history requiring understanding and cooperation of employers, workers and other stakeholders. In proposing strategies to overcome the current challenges, stakeholders must objectively and conscientiously be willing to make necessary trade-offs in the overall interest of the society.”
    The Director ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana Liberia, Sierra Leone and Liason Office of ECOWAS, Dennis Zulu expressed confidence that the reviewed employment policy will enhance coherent, integrated and sustainable multi-sectorial response to combat the challenges of unemployment.
    Zulu appealed to the federal government to ratify the ILO convention 122 saying that the reviewed national employment policy is already in line with the objectives of the conventions.
    Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr. Clement Iloh said that the reviewed National Employment Policy is an off-shoot of the first National Policy on Employment approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2002, with the objective of promoting job creation as a priority in national, economic and social policy, safeguard the basic rights and interest of workers, stimulate economic growth and development as well as eradicate poverty and improve the living standards of citizens.

  • Blame societal failure for child labour – Ngige

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, on Friday blamed failure of societal institutions for the increasing incident of child labour in the country.

    The minister spoke just as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said the country does not have emperical data to show the number of children undergoing child labour in the country.

    Speaking at the 2016 World Day against child labour, Ngige said child labour is a fundamental multidimensional development concern which cuts across economic, social, religious, cultural and regional divide.

    “In the process, human dignity and human rights are compromised,” he stated.

    He said children in Nigeria has not been effectively shielded from this menace which is attributable to poverty, ignorance, unemployment, absence of social security support for vulnerable, misinterpretation of cultural and religious beliefs and failure of societal institutions to perform their roles and obligations.

    He expressed the commitment of the Nigerian government to promoting internationally recognised child labour rights, conventions and protocols adopted and ratified for the elimination of child labour, enforcement of minimum age at work and promotion of the African charter on rights of the child.

    He said: “With globalization, supply chains have become increasingly complex, involving workers, small producers and enterprises around the world. Ending child labour in this context truly is everybody’s business.

    “Child labour, as you are all aware is a socio economic challenge affecting not only Nigeria, but the African region and the entire world. The International Labour Organisation for instance estimated that more than 168 million children in the world are engaged in child labour across a wide variety of economic activities. Out of this figure, it is also estimated that more than half of them, that his 85 million are in hazardous work.”

     

  • Between Nigerian banks and Chris Ngige

    Between Nigerian banks and Chris Ngige

    “Even if you are going to lay off, there is a way to declare redundancy,             
     there is a process. Section 20 of the labour act says it. You must call the           
    unions and discuss with them. You don’t just treat them as slaves in their           
    own country and you want us to keep quiet.”- Dr Chris Ngige

    So the banks have been laying off staff, in droves. Inevitable and predictable, one would say. Any attempt to clean up the financial system drunk on illicit funds, even at the macro level, and keep Nigeria to the narrow path will definitely rebound on a banking system whose substructure lies in quicksand. That is inevitable. Yet, we are only scratching the surface. Underneath, the rot lies much deeper.  Predictably too, the cowboys, who lay claim to ownership  of the banks have taken to the path of least resistance – send home staff whose wages, when added up, barely make any impact on the cooked bottom-line of these institutions.

    In many of the banks, Directors’ remuneration alone, not to mention other benefits and loans to entities in which they have interest, is more than the combined salaries and wages of all the Staff. You would think that banks that are sincerely keen on cutting cost will look at curbing the waste at the top, and not in pushing out the already marginalized people at the bottom. But that will be where the banks care for anyone and anything but their own insatiable greed.

    Understandably, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, last week intervened in a bid to keep the process of retrenchment, in line with the laws of the land. He was reported to have threatened a revocation of licences of the banks for violating directives he had issued. He is right, but also wrong. He is right to be concerned but is wrong to issue a threat that holds no water. If he had been properly informed, he would have realized that the rules he is throwing at the banks hardly apply to most of them. He would have realized the futility of his threat as most of the banks in question do not have in-house unions and are not bound by those rules.  Indeed, that is the problem. That is what should be of concern to the Minister. For without tracking back to the point where the rain started beating us, we would only labour in vain, in the present.

    Banking has almost, always, been borderline criminality. To put it mildly, what transpires in many of the banks, pretending to be legitimate enterprise, is bare-faced criminality.  Indeed, it did not start today but it was never as blatant as it has been in the last two decades or thereabout.

    Fast forward to the late 1980s and early 90s with the liberalisation regime of General Babangida and the open-house banking system that came courtesy of the new-generation banks, things changed. With all the good brought into the system by virtue of competition and massive adoption of technology, there were downsides to new-generation banking. Apart from the institutionalisation of greed as official creed in banking, it ushered in the era of complete disregard for labour laws.

    So, in telling the banks to follow due process, the Labour Minister might be right. Only that he is very late to the party, the train left the station way back. Too late in the day to be issuing directives to banks that had carefully guaranteed an emasculation of the workforce. What operates in terms of labour practice in many of the banks is barely different from what it was like in the sugarcane plantations of old. It is only another face of the legalised robbery pretending to be banking in Nigeria, where profits, so-claimed, are privatised and losses, so-declared, are socialised – passed on to the rest of us, so the big boys can continue to luxuriate, while fashioning new means at legitimising rogue banking.

    A million directives will not make a difference to a system rotten from the substructure. The banks simply don’t care about staff, customers, investors or the public. They only care about the books and how to cook them. Perhaps, soon, someone will make them care about what should really matter.

     

    • Simbo Olorunfemi works for Hoofbeatdotcom, a Nigerian Communications Consultancy.

    Tweet@simboolorunfemi

     

     

  • Fuel price hike: FG inaugurates panel Thursday

    Fuel price hike: FG inaugurates panel Thursday

    … Ngige heads panel

    The Federal Government will on Thursday inaugurate a technical committee set up to look into Labour’s grievances arising from the increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as well as examine other consequential and/or ancillary matters thereon.

    The committee, according to a statement from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, will be inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal, by 3:00pm at his office in Abuja.

    The composition of the committee included members from the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and Government Representatives.

    The members from the NLC are – Comrade Peters Adeyemi, Comrade Amaechi Asugwuni, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel, Comrade Igwe Achese and Segun Efan.

    The TUC members are – Augustine Etafo, Alade Bashir Lawal, and Abdullahi Sale.

    The Government Representatives in the committee included the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who will serve as Chairman, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma.

    Other members from the government team are – Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Chairman, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Chief R. O. Egbule and a representative of Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, while Prof. Adamu Kyuka Usman representing the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, will serve as Secretary.

  • Govt to NLC: return to negotiation table

    Govt to NLC: return to negotiation table

    The federal government said yesterday it will return to the negotiation table with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the increase in the price of petrol.

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige said in a statement that it expects Labour back after NLC President Ayuba Wabba walked out of a meeting on Tuesday night.

    The statement said: “The Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige is constrained to respond to a number of issues which were raised today by the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba after he led the NLC to withdraw from the negotiation between the Federal Government and organised labour yesterday,  Tuesday, May 17 2016.

    “It is instructive to note that most Nigerians have shown great understanding of the fact that the current problem is not a subsidy removal issue, but how to deal with the non-availability of foreign exchange, a situation that leaves the federal government with no other choice than to deregulate the downstream of the petroleum sector which resulted in rise in pump price of petroleum.

    “In view of the above, the Federal Government is fully committed to the quick implementation of the palliatives in the 2016 budget, while developing other ways to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians.

    “The federal government appreciates all the important issues raised by the labour unions and has taken them into consideration. Government is resolute in making sure that the economy is not only strong, but able to provide jobs and opportunities for all Nigerians.

    “The federal government went to court to seek an injunction restraining labour from embarking on strike because there is a clear process of declaring labour strike under the law. It is therefore the view of government that those processes were not complied with before the NLC called the strike.

    “I wish to further state that series of meetings and consultations were held between the federal government through the Minister of State Petroleum, the Office of the Vice President, the Minister of Labour and Employment and organised labour unions.

    “It bears putting on record that on the 4th of May 2016 while discussing the template put forward by the Minister of State Petroleum, the NLC, TUC, NUPENG, PENGASSAN and other major stakeholders even advised that the NNPC pricing should be same with that of the Independent Petroleum Marketing Companies at N140 per litre.

    “There was another meeting on May 11, 2016 where Governors, National Assembly leadership and some ministers were in attendance with NLC, TUC, PENGASSAN and NUPENG promising  to take the decision of the meeting to their respective organs for further necessary actions.

    “It was therefore surprising that the NLC, at the maiden meeting, put forward the issue of non-consultation as a major non-compliance issue on the part of the government but was out rightly debunked by the NNPC and Ministry of Petroleum.

    “Hence, I wish to use this forum as the major conciliator in this critical national issue to appeal to NLC to return to the negotiating table to conclude the negotiations that have been kick-started.

    “Other brother federation unions, TUC, NUPENG, PENGASAN, NUEE! NUBUIFE and other sensitive unions have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government negotiating team on the modalities for the implementation of the palliatives, needed to cushion the adverse effects of the increase in the pump price of petroleum.

  • Fuel price hike, a painful decision – Minister

    Fuel price hike, a painful decision – Minister

    The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said the Federal Government took a painful decision by increasing the pump price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 per litre.

    He spoke to State House correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.

    According to him, the current problem is not about subsidy removal but a result of dwindling income of the government.

    He said: “The current problem is not really about subsidy removal. It is about that Nigeria is broke. Pure and simple!

    “It is like somebody who has been earning N100, 000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth you will be earning N10, 000 a month. He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments. That is the situation with Nigeria today.

    “A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, there were shortfalls, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products is also affected. And our economy is shrinking. We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody.

    “We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions. So, it is not always about popularity.”

    Mohammed and the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, also said that Nigeria is ready to continue negotiations with the union leaders.

     

  • FG won’t accept job loss in petroleum industry, others – Minister

    FG won’t accept job loss in petroleum industry, others – Minister

    Minister of Labour and Productivity, Sen. Chris Ngige, has said the Federal government will not accept any job loss in the oil and gas industry and other sectors of the economy, assuring that the government will immediately nip in the bud any threat to industrial harmony in the petroleum industry.

    The minister spoke at a meeting with members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum and National Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and contractors in the oil and gas sector in his office.

    He said if new jobs cannot be created in the sector or other sectors in the country, efforts must be made to keep the current jobs.

    He said: “We all know that the backbone of the Nigerian economy for now is still the oil and gas. As the Minister of Labour and Employment, I am committed to forestalling any issue that could bring industrial unrest in the sector or threaten job security in the country.

    “I wish to put on record that the Buhari administration has zero tolerance for any form of job loss. If the oil and gas sector or any other sector for that matter cannot create new jobs, they must go the extra mile to retain the existing ones. Any job loss has multiple adverse effects on the population.

    “I have before me, petitions which border on industrial and employment relations, retrenchment, casualization, redundancy and unfair treatment of Nigerians in the pay roll of the oil majors.

    “I have therefore summoned this meeting for us to properly ventilate the issues and make a way for a speedy resolution, after which we shall hold stakeholders’ summit.”

    On the vexed issue of expatriate quota, the minister said the ministry was already discussing with the Ministry of Interior to check the abuse of the nation’s immigration and Labour laws and promised that the displacement of qualified Nigerians by foreigners would soon become a thing of the past.

     

  • Call for massive youth employment, false – Minister

    Call for massive youth employment, false – Minister

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has denied an online report calling for the submission of Curriculum Vitae (CV) by unemployed youths to the ministry.

    The minister said this on Monday in Abuja in a statement signed by the Deputy Director of Press in the Ministry, Samuel Olowookere.

    According to him, the attention of the minister had been drawn to the online publication requesting unemployed Nigerian youths to submit application for employment in the ministry.

    The statement noted that the online publication requested unemployed Nigerian youths to submit the CVs at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment Headquarters and its Zonal offices nationwide.

    “The general public is hereby advised to disregard this false directive as it did not emanate from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

    “In view of the apprehension the above false information has generated, it is pertinent to point out that the present administration is committed to the creation of decent employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.

    “It has perfected plans for massive job creation through well thought out programmes such as Graduate Teachers Conversion Programme and Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), among others.”

    The statement said that the general public would be informed in due course when any of these programmes/scheme would be rolled out.

  • FG to revive National Labour Advisory Council -Ngige

    FG to revive National Labour Advisory Council -Ngige

    Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, says plans are underway to revive the National Labour Advisory Council in order to ensure international best labour practices in the country.

    Ngige who addressed newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, stressed that the resuscitation of the council was imperative in order to ensure International Labour Organisation (ILO) best practices in the country.

    “The National Labour Advisory Council is a very important organ of the tripartite committee arrangement that we have in the labour management.

    “The Council will help us to review the labour laws in the country and ensure international best practices.

    “So this ministry under my leadership will make sure that we will revive the council,” he added.

    He said part of the reason why the council was not performing optimally was due to lack of funds.

    Ngige noted that the meeting of the advisory council cost between N7 million and N10 million.

    He said that a tripartite committee meeting would be held to determine on how to revive the council and at an affordable cost too.

    “The National Labour Advisory Council is important because it is the equivalent of the public hearing which they do at the National Assembly.

    “So for us in the executive, the labour council serves as public hearing for the tripartite that is the employers, government and the unions that will have the opportunity to look at the laws.

    “ These are laws that will be enforced and make us comfortable in our various places of work.”

    Ngige said the revival of the council would afford the tripartite committee opportunity to fashion out ways to solve some problems like casualisation and contract staffing.

    He noted that there are laws guiding casualisation and contract staffing, but these laws are being abused by employers.

    “As long as we are here, we cannot permit indecent jobs and this ministry must protect Nigerians irrespective of where they come from.

    “To that extent we are going to enforce the law and that is why we have to revive the Inspectorate Department and the Industrial Relations Department.

    “They have to work together now and see how we can tackle and improve on this issue because a lot of companies are now into casualisation,’’ Ngige said.

    The minister noted that many multi-national companies are getting contracts in Nigeria, but have no labour clause that protects the Nigerian workers.

    “As I was told, most of such companies have used the opportunity to ship in their nationals to Nigeria thus depriving Nigerians of gainful employment.

    “It is very unfortunate that it is Nigerians who are breaking the laws; it is not those who are coming from outside the country who are breaking the law.

    “Nigerians break the laws at the point of entry; Nigerians break the law when these people are inside the country that is why the expatriate quota is full of flaws.

    “The Ministry of Labour will discuss with the Interior Ministry to look at the expatriate quota laws to ensure total compliance,’’ he said.