The Nation Newspaper

Tag: John Ndiomu

  • NLC decries defection, urges politicians to focus on moving nation forward

    The Bayelsa State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) wants  politicians to stop the ongoing   gale of defections, and play politics by the rules to safeguard democracy in the country.

    Mr. John Ndiomu, the state Chairman of NLC, told our reporters in Yenagoa,the state capital onFriday that political actors should instead focus on issues that  would drive Nigeria’s development.

    The chairman cautioned against repeating mistakes of the past, stressing that defection would not impact on national development in any form like job creation and provision of basic amenities.

    He said: “I will not say that our democracy is under threat or that we are going backward; my concern is that our politicians are yet to learn their lessons because the current issue of defection is indicating that they are going to repeat the old mistakes in the forthcoming elections.

    Read Also: Minimum wage panel to end negotiation next month, says NLC boss

    “My question here is: are the defectors defecting for the good interest of Nigerians or for their selfish interest?

    “It is high time we learned  from the past in order not to repeat the old mistakes.

    “In the forthcoming elections, we want politicians who have the interest of Nigerians at heart. “The electorate should be mindful not to vote for politicians that have failed the people.”

  • Bayelsa earmarks N100m for NLC state secretariat complex — Chairman

    Bayelsa earmarks N100m for NLC state secretariat complex — Chairman

    The Bayelsa Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), says the state government has earmarked N100 million for the construction of the state secretariat.

    The state Chairman, Mr John Ndiomu, made this known in an interview with the News men on Friday.

    Speaking against the backdrop of the celebration of NLC’s 40th anniversary in the state, Ndiomu expressed the union’s readiness to work with the present administration to end workers’ strike in Bayelsa.

    He lauded the Bayelsa Government for capturing the construction of the NLC Secretariat complex in its 2018 budget.

    He assured teachers who were wrongly sacked that they would soon be called back to their duty posts.

    Read Also: Send your child to school or risk jail term, Bayelsa tells parents

    “We are here to protect the interest of workers, not ours.

    “Even when people are not our union members, we still work to protect their interest as fellow countrymen.”

    He said that the anniversary would also create an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by the NLC and the larger labour movement and identify ways of addressing these challenges.

    The news men recalls the NLC was founded on Feb. 28, 1978.

    NAN

     

  • Education Levy: Dickson, Labour meeting ends in stalemate

    The meeting between Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa and labour unions over a compulsory education levy on civil servants imposed by the state government has ended in a stalemate, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    NAN reports that the Higher Education Students’ Loan and Education Development Trust Fund Law, makes it mandatory for worker in public and private sector to contribute to the fund.

    The government would contribute 10% of its internally generated revenue, while public servants will contribute between N500 and N100, 000 monthly depending on their grade level to the fund.

    The unions, however, opposed the levy after the governor signed the Law on March 29.

    Chairmen of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the state told NAN in separate interviews on Wednesday that the meeting did not arrive at a consensus.

    Mr John Ndiomu, the NLC Chairman said that the union leaders would present details of the discussion to their members at a joint congress meeting.

    Ndiomu, however, said that the government had approved all pending promotions of workers.

    Also Mr Tari Dounana, the TUC Chairman noted that the education levy and the witdrawal of a 20 per cent tax waiver granted civil servants were additional burden on workers.

    Dounana lamented that the imposition of the levy came at a time the government had failed to settle over six months backlog of workers salaries.

    The TUC chairman described the levy as “anti-people”, and made without the input of key stakeholders and other members of the public.

    “It is very unfortunate that such laws that will require civil servants to make contributions from their salaries were passed and assented to, without a public hearing for stakeholders to make their views known.

    “The workers have made enough sacrifice, with between six to 13 months salary arrears and we had agreed to support the proposed Health Insurance policy where workers will also make contributions, this is one deduction too many.

    “For them to formulate the policy without labour input leaves much to be desired, we are opposed to it,” Dounana said.

    Meanwhile, Mr Jonathan Obuebite, Bayelsa Commissioner for Information, urged the workers to refrain from politicising the policy.

    According to him, the state government had invested about N50 billion into the education sector.

    “The state government sees the welfare of its workforce as a priority and the policy is in the overall interest of the citizenry.

    “It is meant to provide world class education to every child in Bayelsa, and we want the people to make nominal sacrifices,’’ Obuebite claimed.

  • Labour, Dickson disagree on education tax

    Labour, Dickson disagree on education tax

    The Bayelsa State chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday, disagreed with Governor Seriake Dickson, on the introduction of compulsory education levy in the state.

    Dickson signed the Bayelsa Education Development Trust Fund Law 2017 compelling civil servants, goverment officials, contractors and taxable citizens to pay monthly education levy.

    The governor explained the reasons behind the tax insisting it was part of the measures to protect the future of education in the state.

    Dickson, who said he was the highest contributor to the funds insisted that anybody opposed to the tax would be considered as an enemy of the state.

    According to him, the fund would guarantee the sustainability of huge investments of the government in the educational sector.

    Dickson said: ”From now on, funds will be pumped into the EDTF account to support the free feeding, free uniforms and other items of the students. And it will take little contributions from every Bayelsan; some will pay as little as N400, N500 per month. There are others that will have to pay N1,000 or more depending on their business”.

    But the NLC chairman, Mr. John Ndiomu, said that while the workers were in support of the education development of the state, they believed that the government had the capacity to finance it without resorting to imposing further taxes on them.

    Ndiomu appealed to the government to review the levy because workers were still grappling with how to survive the current recession.

    On his part, the TUC chairman in the state, Mr. Tari Dounana, described the levy as “an antipeople’s policy” by the executive and the legislature without any inputs from the stakeholders.

    Dounana said: “It is unfortunate that such a law that requires civil servants to make contributions about their salaries was passed and assented to without a public hearing for the stakeholders to make their views known

    “We have already agreed to support the proposed Health Insurance Policy into which workers will also make contributions. This is one deduction too many. We are opposed to it.”

    But the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, said that the levy had noble intentions insisting that the state needed it to move its education forward.

    He said: ”We have built infrastructure and built boarding schools for which 16 of them will commence soon. We need to put up a system that can sustain them. The Government will be doing the job of providing infrastructure, but the essence of this is that we must run a boarding school and if we are to provide boarding facilities as we have done and we want to run them, we must put up a system that must sustain it outside of the direct government’s funding.

    ”And that is why the government has said that five per cent of its internally generated revenue will be channelled into the  EDTF and that everybody in government – political appointees and elected political officials including the civil servants and all citizens of the state will pay something into that fund which will be used primarily for students’ feeding and immediate needs in the boarding schools we have established in the eight local government areas for which the Ijaw National Academy is one.

    ”So, what we are doing is to sustain our educational system and also move Bayelsa out of the educationally disadvantaged state  to a state that will compete favourably with other states in the comity of states as a state that is educationally advantaged.”

  • Unions oppose collection of education levy from Bayelsa civil servants

    The labour unions in Bayelsa, on Friday, opposed the Higher Education Students’ Loan and Education Development Trust Fund Law, which is meant to collect education levy from civil servants.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the law was signed to take effect on Wednesday by Gov. Seriake Dickson in Yenagoa.

    The law makes it mandatory for government officials in Bayelsa public service as well as those in the private sector to contribute to the education fund.

    The government is expected to contribute 10 per cent of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to support the education fund on a monthly basis.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), explained that with the withdrawal of a 20 per cent tax waiver earlier granted to civil servants, the proposed levy would pose additional burden to them.

    The Bayelsa chapter NLC chairman, Mr John Ndiomu, who said that the workers were in support of the education development of the state, however, believed that the State Government could afford to finance it.

    Ndiomu urged the State Government to review the levy, as workers, who were  owed a backlog of salaries of more than six months, were grappling with how to survive the current recession.

    Also, Mr Tari Dounana, Bayelsa chapter TUC chairman, described the levy as “an anti-people’s policy” by the executive and the legislature, without any input from the stakeholders.

    “It is unfortunate that such a law that requires civil servants to make contributions from their salaries was passed and assented to without a public hearing for the stakeholders to make their views known.

    “We have already agreed to support the proposed Health Insurance Policy into which workers will also make contributions. This is one deduction too many.

    “For the government to formulate the education development fund without inputs from the labour, leaves much to be desired. We are opposed to it,” Dounana said.

    Shortly after signing the law, Dickson implored the workers to refrain from politicising the policy.

    He disclosed that N50 billion had so far been invested in the education sector by the  State Government.