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Tag: Nigeria Employers Consultative Association ( NECA )

  • NECA boss enjoins employers on good corporate governance

    NECA boss enjoins employers on good corporate governance

    The Director General of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale Smatt-Oyerinde, has emphasised the need for employers in Nigeria to embrace responsible business conduct in their operations to grow locally and in the international market.

    Smatt-Oyerinde made this known during an awareness-raising workshop organised by NECA in partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and International OE in Lagos for enterprises on the ILO MNE declaration to promote sustainable and responsible business practices,

    Citing that the conversation in labour circles is moving away from doing business for profit to doing business responsibly, he attributed the workshop’s relevance to NECA and its member companies’ desire to join the global community in promoting responsible corporate practices.

    According to him, the workshop would undoubtedly help create leverage for member companies so that they can handle the challenges of sustainability and human rights that have become focal points in the workplace. He further disclosed that new realities in the workplace ecosystem have shown that enterprises globally now pay adequate attention to sustainability, environment, social, and corporate governance issues.

    “Business and human rights are major issues that we align with because the IOE, our global partner, aligns with them. It means doing business while taking cognisance of human rights. It is about looking at how business operations, which take care of human rights, affect everybody in the value chain of work,” he said.

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    Shedding light on the purpose of the workshop, which is a coordinated activity supported by the ILO and IOE to ensure that everybody is involved, with NECA as the focal point, he explained that responsible business conduct was now a reality, as no hiding place existed for anyone, including NECA and its member companies.

    He also believes that the training will address the knowledge gap among some member companies and deepen engagement and participation in responsible corporate practices among members who already have the knowledge.

    Asked to comment on the country’s 51-year-old labour laws, he said that though new realities such as care and platform economies might be contending with the laws, governments need to expedite action on their passage in the same manner they did with the minimum wage law.

    One of the guest speakers, Benedetta Nobile, Project Technical Officer, Multinational Enterprises and Responsible Business Conduct Unit (MULTI/RBC), ILO, identified productive employment, rights at work, social protection, and social dialogue as central pillars crucial to achieving decent work.

    Also speaking during the workshop, Kinga Dery, Human Rights Specialist at the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), charged the government to look at the root causes of all elements that hinder responsible business conduct.

    At different sessions, participants urged employers to develop a roadmap supporting responsible business conduct for the realisation of decent work.

  • Tech threat to jobs: NECA seeks self-devt for workers

    Following possible threat to job security posed by digital technology, the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has advised workers to engage in continuous self-development if they want to survive the challenges posed by robotics.

    NECA’s Director-Genera, Olawale Timothy in an interview said whether Nigerians liked it or not, technological advancement in the workplace is catching up with the country fast.

    He dismissed fears that technological advancement would lead to massive job loss, pointing out that workers should acquiant  themselves with such technologies in order not to be caught off guide.

    Timothy said the organisation would educate its members on the new convention adopted at the conference against violence and harassment in the workplace to ensure a decent work agenda for workers.

    He said: “The advent of digital era or robotics as some people call it into the world of work has come to stay. Whether we like it or not, it is catching up with us in Nigeria. However, that assumption that it is going to translate to massive loss of jobs, especially in Nigeria is misplaced.

    “What is critical is that as stakeholders, both employers and employees, have roles to play so that workers will continue to be relevant in the work environment. As this development unfolds, workers are supposed to take kin interest self- development.

    “You should not wait until your employer sent you on course to update yourself  and be in tandem with latest technology or the digital era that has cropped up in the world of work.

    “While introducing new technology, employers also have responsibilities to ensure that they give existing workers the opportunity to be very relevant by giving them relevant training on the use of those technology.

    “So, that does not mean that embracing new technology is going to lead to loss of jobs. Rather, it is for relevant stakeholders, both employers and workers to continue to deepen their capacity building and sustain relevance in the work place.”

    On the move by employers to deny workers their right to strike and the eradication of violence at work, Timothy said: “Over the years, employers have said they are all out for the eradication or reduction to the barest minimum in the world of work all these evils of violence and harassment because of the implication in the work relationship.

    “We are working together to ensure that we reduce to the barest minimum the issue of violence and harassment. With regard to the issue of strike, employers recognises that it is the right of workers to go on strike.

    “However, the emphasis is on due process. Strike action should be the very last resort in industrial dispute resolution. Before it gets to strike, there are other processes for resolution that need to be followed.

    “What we are saying as employers is that we should explore all these other steps before embarking on strike which is counter productive. It is after the other steps, which include mediation, arbitration and conciliation fails that you resort to strike. Even before you go on strike, there are processes for giving notices. What we are asking for is due process and abiding by the rule of law.

    “I am sure that employers are not interested in defeating strike. What we should be thinking about as stakeholders in the world of work is how to maintain cordial industrial harmony so that when we have industrial disputes, it is amicably resolved so that it does not led to strike.”

    He said further that the body would enlighten its members on the their responsibility on the safety of their workers. He said: “What is very fundamental is for us to enlighten employers, the government and workers to what their responsibilities are. This is what NECA has been doing over the years.‘’

  • Court bars Kano from collecting consumption tax

    The Federal High Court in Abuja has set aside sections 96 and 97 of the Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law, No. 3 of 2017, which empowers the state to collect consumption tax.

    The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) and Retail Supermarkets Nigeria Limited, operators of Shoprite, sued the Attorney-General of the Federation, Kano Attorney-General and Kano State Inland Revenue Service.

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    They urged the court to hold that state law was in conflict with the provisions of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, Cap VI, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

    According to them, the VAT Act is already being implemented by the Federal Government as a consumption tax for the benefit of both the federal and states governments.

    The plaintiffs prayed the court to determine whether Sections 96 and 97 of the Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law, No. 3 of 2017, did not amount to double and multiple taxation.

    In his verdict, Justice John Tsoho resolved the three issues raised by the plaintiffs for determination in their favour.

    He held that sections 96 and 97 of the Kano State Revenue Administration (Amendment) Law, No. 3 of 2017 are inconsistent with items 7 and 8 of Part II of the Second Schedule to the Constitution.

    According to him, the imposition of consumption tax through Sections 96 and 97 of the Kano State Law over the same goods and services which are already subject to VAT amounted to double taxation.

    The court dismissed the defendants’ preliminary objection to the suit.

     

  • ‘Lagos Land Use Charge Law failed basiç legislative procedure ‘

    ‘Lagos Land Use Charge Law failed basiç legislative procedure ‘

    Nigeria’s Organised Private Sector (OPS) on Friday said the controversial Land Use Charge Law failed to meet basic legislative procedure before it was ratified by the Lagos House of Assembly.

    In its submission at a stakeholders forum on the new law organised by Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the OPS said Lagos lawmakers ignored public outcry against it.

    Mr Timothy Olawale, OPS representative, said that the OPS was given less than five minutes to express their concerns during the public hearing on the review of the law.

    “The heaŕing was like a premeditated arrangement; the lawmakers failed to take into account public outcry against the review given the effect it would have on property owners, going by depreciation and devaluation of naira.

    “We wrote a letter as a follow up to the public hearing stating our position, still it was ignored,” he said.

    The OPS said that the citizens should not be held liable for government’s negligence to review the law every five years as stated in the provision of the law.

    “Government is toying with people’s lives and survival of businesses. Things are pretty hard, and perhaps because you are on the other side, you do not know.

    “Businesses are barely surviving. The income of Nigerians in the past five years, salaries and rental income alike, has been bastardised by inflation rate.

    “We learnt that since the law was passed, many property owners had developed hypertension because the assessed value of property has also been reviewed upwardly by over 500 per cent,” he said.

    The OPS said that government’s failure to review the law in the past 15 years notwithstanding, any increase above 100 per cent was unacceptable.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that OPS comprises of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA).

    Others are; National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (NASME) and National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI).

    NAN reports that Lagos State Government recently repealed its 2001 Land Use Charge Law, and replaced it with a new Land Use Charge Law, 2018.

    The State House of Assembly had passed the bill on Jan. 29, while the Governor signed it into law on Feb. 8.

    Also commenting, Dr Dotun Bamigbola, Vice President, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, recommended upward review of Relief Rate to accommodate provision for maintenance cost and other outgoing.

    He noted that most owners could only pay from property income, and proposed that charge rate should take cognisance of rental trend which in most locations was stagnant or going southward.

    Earlier, Mr Akinyemi Ashade, Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, said that the law would entrench a regime of self-assessment that allows property owners to make their own calculation and know their rate with the help of professional valuers.

    Ashade said that various reliefs had been made available to payers, including a general 40 percent relief for all property liable to LUC payment.

    NAN reports that the stakeholders erupted in uproar of displeasure several times during the commissioner’s presentation while some stormed out of the conference hall.

    The LCCI spokesperson, Segun Alabi, on several occasion entreated the stakeholders to maintain decorum while the forum lasted.

    Read Also: Land Use Charge: Lagos govt faults ‘outrageous amount in circulation’

  • ITF trains 65 teachers, donates 210 desks to two schools

    ITF trains 65 teachers, donates 210 desks to two schools

    The Industrial Training Fund ( ITF ) has trained 65 teachers and donated 210 desks to two schools in Plateau, its Director-General, Mr Joseph Ari, said on Thursday in Jos.

    Ari, who said that the gesture was part of ITF’s corporate responsibility to its host community, identified the benefiting schools as Government Science School, Kuru, and St. Joseph Vianney Minor Seminary, Barkin-Ladi.

    He said that the schools also received various teaching aids to improve the quality of service delivery.

    According to him, ITF donated 20 computers to the two schools and renovated the sick bay at the seminary.

    “We also converted the school dispensary of the Science School, Kuru to a sick bay, and provided the required equipment and drugs,” he said.

    The ITF boss said that teachers’ development had remained a major concern of the ITF because they constituted a major factor in the provision of quality education.

    He said that ITF had also provided practical experience to students in 311 tertiary institutions using the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES).

    “We are also working with Nigeria Employers Consultative Association ( NECA ) to train workers on technical skills in 24 organisations,” he said.

    He said that Industrial Training Fund had also extended such gesture to technical schools in Benin and Federal Technical College, Awka, in Anambra.