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  • NLC: renewed killings unacceptable

    NLC: renewed killings unacceptable

    THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday gave the Federal Government a wake-up call following the renewed killings of the citizens by the Boko Haram insurgents.

    In a statement titled: “Renewed killings unacceptable,” the congress General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said the “government must wake up to its responsibility of ensuring that it defends our sovereignty as well as protect the citizenry. Nothing less will be acceptable. It will be a tragedy, if the previous gains against the Boko Haram are lost.”

    The NLC expressed shocked at the massacre of innocent workers by suicide bombers who had gathered for screening at the local government secretariat in Zaria.

    The act, the congress said, defied comprehension.

    It added: “A few days earlier, we had similar fatal explosions in Kano, Jos, and Potiskum. We had also recorded wholesome invasions and massacres in some border communities in Borno and Yobe states.

    “We condemn in very strong terms this renewed coordinated violence against innocent and law-abiding citizens, who are just beginning to put together what was left of their lives.

    “The frequency and ease with which these incidents happened seem to suggest that the Boko Haram has regrouped and will continue to pick on soft targets.

    “It also means that we may have let down our guard too soon.”

    The NLC added that with the dislodgment of insurgents from their safe havens, “some of them may have passed themselves off as internally displaced persons and are now wreaking havoc”.

    “Our security forces will have to go back to the drawing board just as the citizenry will have to renew their vigilance as well as strengthen the bond of community.

    “Finally, our hearts go out to the families of the victims,” it said.

  • NLC vows to resist cut in wokers’ pay

    NLC vows to resist cut in wokers’ pay

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday vowed to resist any cut in workers’  pay.

    Its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and   General Secretary,  Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson, in a communique after the National Administrative Council (NAC) meeting of July 1 in Abuja,  accusedsome governors of mismanagement of state finances.

    It said it would not tolerate the cut of the token pay of workers.

    The NLC described the situation as unacceptable, and  vowed to stop the governors from effecting any pay cut.

    They said: “The Congress is amazed that having come out in the brazen way to mismanage the finances of their respective states, some governors are contemplating the cutting of workers’ salaries, as a way out of the financial mess they have found themselves. This will be completely unacceptable to organised labour, and we will do everything within our means to stop this from happening.

    “The token of temporary reduction of political officers salaries, as a bait to force cuts in the wages of workers in the states will be unacceptable, because these political office holders hardly depend on their wages for their day-to-day survival. They do not use their wages to pay for their feeding, healthcare and other essential needs which are most times provided free for them by the state.”

    Waba and Ozo -Eson attributed the non-payment of salaries to  the irresponsible inclination of the country’s political elite on its insistence on maintaining a clearly unsustainable lifestyle and earnings at the expense of the growth and development of the country.

    The communique said the NLC drew attention to the problem of many states  which spent billions of naira on electioneering campaigns rather than pay the wages and pensions of workers.

    NLC said it also drew the attention of relevant authorities to the crisis of non-payment of workers’ wages, and the establishment of task teams to force the affected states to pay.

    The congress said while these states expended hundreds of millions of naira to pay bloated severance allowances and benefits of political office holders in the states, workers’ wages have remained unpaid.

    The communique also noted that: “Congress will not fold its arms and watch this manifest injustice against Nigerian workers and pensioners being endlessly perpetuated. It therefore resolved to mobilise Nigerian working people and Nigerian masses against the continuing excesses of our political elite at all levels of our polity.

    “NAC-in-Session further resolved to support and cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption policy and call on its members in all agencies of the public sector to provide any information at their disposal that might lead to the recovery of public funds stolen from the treasury.”

    The congress, according to the communique, also reviewed  the leadership crisis in the National Assembly and urged the All Progressives Congress ( APC) to call its members in the two chambers to order.

    NLC added that Nigerians voted the APC into power with the hope that the party would bring about the “change” it promised by addressing the country’s socio-economic challenges.

     

  • Fuel subsidy: NLC denies making presentation to Buhari

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has denied making any presentation to President Muhammadu Buhari on fuel subsidy removal.

    Its factional President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who spoke to reporters on the controversial statement made by the Comrade Joe Ajaero faction of the NLC said: “We would want to state unequivocally that at no time has any one consulted us on the issue of the removal of fuel subsidy.

    “We are certainly not party to this and no one should put words in our mouth. Our position on the issue of the removal of fuel subsidy is unwavering. We recognise the corruption in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry orchestrated by government agencies in collusion with big-time business persons together with whom they have formed a cartel.”

    He said labour strongly beleives that in order to deal with this situation effectively, government needs to break up the cabal by opening up the downstream sector to fair competition governed by ethics.

    He recalled that the mass protest in January 2012 against an increase in prices of petroleum products opened up a can of worms in the sector, prompting legal proceedings against some of the culprits. “Till this moment, in spite of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence against the culprits, nothing has been heard about the case(s); yet it was a prime opportunity for government to demonstrate its fight against corruption through diligent prosecution,” he said.

    Comrade Wabba urged Buhari to muster the political will by not only opening up the sector to fair competition, but also ensuring diligent prosecution of all the accused. He said labour remained convinced that the real solution to the crisis in the sector lies in ensuring that domestic refining is promoted.

    He noted that this could only be achieved if new refineries are built and the four existing ones made to produce at installed capacity, thus doing away with the need for importation of refined petroleum products. He also said new pipelines should be laid and the old ones refurbished to efficiently channel the products to all parts of the country instead of relying on carriage by tankers on the already over-burdened roads.

    The jobs of workers in the oil and gas industry, he said, must not be adversely affected by the removal of subsidy. “And, of course, there must be clear and well-thought-out palliatives relating to transportation and other social services as would be necessary for ameliorating the effects of subsidy removal on the masses,” Wabba added.

  • Manufacturers spend N3.5tr yearly on generators, says NLC

    Manufacturers spent an estimated N3.5 trillion annually to run power generators for production due to the collapse of public electricity, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Waba, has said.

    Speaking at a business luncheon for managing directors/chief executive officers organised by the Ikeja branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in Lagos, he said the energy sector is critical to the manufacturing sector of the economy.

    “Any government that is serious about reviving the economy must make the revival of the power sector a priority. The challenges faced in terms of decayed infrastructure, bad road and epileptic power supply are necessary factors in production and their deficits have made manufacturing difficult, leading to the closure of not a few industries while a lot more had to relocate to other countries.

    “It is auspicious that both manufacturers and labour build a strong alliance to step up campaigns for the revival of our economy, which can only be done through the reactivation of all infrastructures needed for real production,” he said, adding that apart from infrastructure decay, manufacturers are confronted with other challenges, particularly indebtedness.

    Ayuba said: “While you have to borrow to produce, majority of your corporate consumers, particularly government are hugely indebted to some of you. Another challenge we know you face is the importation of products, which you also produce locally. These imported products take advantage of your deprivations in the area of infrastructures to bring in goods, most of which are substandard and sell them cheaper than yours.”

    He said there can’t be fair competition when cost of production, standards and other environmental factors are not the same. “We therefore, urge government to impose total ban on the importation of all goods produced by our local manufacturers. We believe our country, with over 160 million population can be a major manufacturing hub in Africa if our government encourage our local manufacturers,” he said.

    The NLC President added that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is not helping matters on the issue of importation of banned and fake products, adding that NCS should be patriotic in their duties by protecting the people, economy and the national interests at all times.

    “Our borders are too porous, and they need to urgently defend their profession by ensuring banned and adulterated goods don’t cross into our country,” he said.

  • NLC to President: arraign oil subsidy scam’s suspects

    THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to prosecute those that were accused of “stealing oil subsidy fund”.

    Its National President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who sought the prosecution in a statement, warned that “there shall be no selective justice”.

    He said: ”In the light of the above, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to muster the necessary political will by not only opening up the sector to fair competition, but by ensuring diligent prosecution of all the accused.

    “We remain convinced that the real solution to the crisis in the sector lies in ensuring that domestic refining is promoted.”

    He, however, denied the congress’ involvement in the consultation for the purported plan to remove oil subsidy.

    In the statement, titled: “We are not involved”, the congress noted that there was no time that it was consulted for the removal of the subsidy.

     Wabba, in the rejoinder to a report in one of the national newspapers (not The Nation), said the NLC recognised that corruption was being perpetrated by government agencies and businessmen in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

    The NLC boss noted that to be able to deal with this situation effectively, government must break up this cabal by opening up the downstream sector of the petroleum industry to fair competition.

    Wabba said NLC, in January 2012, protested increase in prices of petroleum products. He added that it unravelled illegal activities in the sector and prompted legal proceedings against some culprits.

    He said in spite of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence against the culprits, nothing has been heard about the cases.

    The NLC president said the subsidy scam would be an opportunity for government to demonstrate its fight against corruption through diligent prosecution.

  • NLC: Ajaero, Aremu ’re impostors

    AYUBA Wabba’s faction of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday said the activities of “Comrades Joe Ajaero and Issa Aremu are tantamount to impersonating the congress leadership”.

    In a statement yesterday, the factional congress president, Wabba, claimed that the Ajaero and Aremu lost their elections on March 14.

    He said: “While we had restrained the National Secretariat from publishing a disclaimer in the hope that commonsense and sanity will eventually prevail on our comrades to stop this delusion, it has become clear to us and the entire labour movement that Comrades Ajaero and Aremu are determined to continue in their criminal enterprise of impersonation as President and Deputy President of NLC.”

    Wabba said it was for the same reason that Aremu had continued to issue statements purportedly on behalf of NLC and claiming to be its Deputy President.

    He added that one of such statements, which was allegedly given wide publicity in four newspapers on Monday, contended that the decision of the National Assembly to voluntarily cut its budget from N150 billion to N120 billion was “too token and not far-reaching enough.”

    The NLC boss noted that though the congress could not stop officials of their associations from commenting on national issues, no affiliate industrial union or their officers must issue statements in the name of the entire workers.

    He added that to do that, such affiliate must be mandated by NLC.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, on the issue of the budget of the National Assembly, which Aremu was reported to have issued a statement, we have since communicated our intention for constructively engage with the leadership of the National Assembly and are awaiting its response for a forum, where we intend to further unfold our agenda.

    “We will similarly engage Mr. President on a range of national and labour specific issues, when we get to have an audience with him.

    “As the foremost labour centre in Nigeria, we hold dear the principle and value of dialogue and engagement and will not be flippant as to irresponsibly hurl threats at our democratically constituted authorities, even before engaging them,” Wabba said.

  • NLC to lawmakers: slash N120b vote or face revolt

    Workers condemn jumbo pay for legislators

    Rep: budget not for us alone

    Labour insisted yesterday that federal lawmakers must further cut their N120 billion budget —in line with economic realities.

    The Joe Ajaero-led Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) faction said the reduction of the National Assembly’s budget from N150 billion to N120 billion “is too token and not far reaching enough”.

    It threatened a mass revolt should the lawmakers and the executive fail to bring down their recurrent expenses.

    The faction’s Deputy President, Comrade Issa Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of the Textile Workers Union, advised  National Assembly members to appreciate the mood of the nation for leadership sacrifices, resource allocation for national development and common good as opposed to self-help.

    He spoke to reporters in Kaduna.

    But a House of Representatives member, Mohammed Abdulkadir, said the N120billion is not all for salaries.

    Labour said “nations prosper when their leaders are willing to sacrifice; while nations fail when leaders engage in selfish self-help agenda.”

    The factional NLC group asked: “Should 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives gulp as much as N120 billion in a year, which is twice the 2015 budget of Ekiti State (N80.774 billion), a state with the population of 2,384,212 people?

    “How equitable is it for less than 500 national legislators to gulp N120 billion annually when Osun State with a population of 3,423,535 people and unfunded 2015 Appropriation Bill of N201 billion is yet to pay salaries for seven months?

    “Benue State has as many as 4,219,244 people; it budgeted N98.54 billion; Zamfara has 3,259,846 citizens and budgeted N92.80 billion; and Ebonyi, budgeted N80.02 billion for 2,173,501 people.

    “The respective budgets of these three states is half of the budget of the National Assembly. How equitable is that?

    “There has been illegal and unconstitutional concentration of scarce national resources in the hands of our legislators and Executive office holders alike that must be reversed now.

    “For instance, Kano State budgeted N210 billion in 2015. Kano State has 9,383,682 people. The budget per capital of Kano, estimated at N22,379, is miserable, compared to budget per capital of the National Assembly at N293,398,533!

    “No country can prosper with this wide and widening gap in resource allocation between the governed and some elected government officials.

    “The National Assembly members should take the advantage of the current goodwill of Nigerians in making anamend failing which they provoke mass revolt of the people.

    “NLC, therefore, is advocating that the first step is that the National Assembly budget should be reversed to 2003 budget of N50 billion, which will certainly cut the existing budget of the assembly by more than 50 per cent.

    It stressed that since 2003, “the number of members remains the same while most of their infrastructural needs have been met. Secondly, the national economy can hardly afford this legislative pay.

    “The eighth National Assembly must make a difference. It should be accountable to Nigerian people, just as many Executives have done.

    “The eighth Assembly must complement President Muhammadu Buhari in his resolve to cut cost of governance fuelled by corruption, the worse form of which is outrageous pay for public office holders.

    “They must emulate governors like Mallam Nasir El-Rufai  of Kaduna State and his deputy who have cut their pay by 50 per cent and urged the Members of the House of Assembly to follow suit.

    “Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje also reduced the salaries and allowances of public office holders in the state by 50 per cent.

    “Significantly the legislators must reject the Greek allowances Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) generously accorded them. These allowances are unsustainable. They are not based on needs in a depressed economy.

    “For instance, why pay legislators who already collected over a million naira wardrobe allowance?

    “It will take a minimum wage earner about two years and five months to earn what legislators earn as wardrobe allowance of N506,600.

    ”The eighth National Assembly should rightly redirect national resources to priority sectors, such as education, health and road construction.

    “The assembly must also urgently review the minimum Wage Act of 2010 which, according to the Act, expires next month.

    “The Assembly should constitute the Tripartite Statutory Committee based on equal basis between government, organized labour and organized private sector,” it said.

  • NLC kicks against Buhari’s ascent to 46 bills

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed its disappointment over the action of the National Assembly to pass 46 bills within 10 minutes, urging President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign them into law. NLC described it as a display of gross disdain for the procedure of lawmaking in a democratic setting.

    Its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said: “In the light of the cavalier manner in which these bills were passed, the Congress wishes to, with all sense of responsibility, call on Mr. President not to sign them into law. President Buhari should instead return them to the new National Assembly to be subjected to proper legislative procedures.”

    According to Wabba,  the Senate, apparently competing for the Guinness Book of  Records for legislative infamy, passed 46 bills “without legislation” in 10 minutes, while the House of Representatives took turn the next day to pass 14 bills transmitted to it by the Senate, without following the regular legislative procedures.

    “Whoever advised our lawmakers to take this reckless path to lawmaking has only succeeded in putting an indelible dent on whatever achievements the 7th session of the National Assembly wished to be ascribed to it.

    “By this singular action, our distinguished and honourable lawmakers have not only displayed gross disdain for the philosophy of law making in a democratic setting, they have exposed their lack of interest in and commitment to the wellbeing of the country. They have, by so doing, apart from ridiculing themselves, also unfortunately embarrassed the country in the eyes of the civilised global community,” Wabba said.

    He said by skipping the first, second and third reading process, as well as the public hearing on these bills, the lawmakers have denied Nigerians the basic opportunity to interrogate the desirability or otherwise of these bills.

    “We wish to use this opportunity to congratulate members of the new National Assembly. The Congress wishes to extend its hand of partnership to the legislators in both chambers of the National Assembly in the interest of good governance in the country.

    “In line with the current popular mood of the country for change, the NLC expects the incoming legislature to depart from the opaque ways of the previous sessions of the National Assembly. Congress, and indeed Nigerians, expects the incoming legislators to be prudent, accountable, transparent and more effective in their legislative and oversight functions,” he said.

  • NLC seeks ILO’s help over Boko Haram, others

    NLC seeks ILO’s help over Boko Haram, others

    Factional leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade  Ayuba Wabba, has said the issues of endemic poverty, unemployment, and low wage regimes combined with the Boko Haram insurgency have worsened the condition the Nigerian child.

    Speaking at the ongoing International Labour Organisation (ILO), Conference in Geneva,  Wabba said the situation is so manifestly grave, and demands immediate global attention.

    Wabba argued that these circumstances were man-made and were therefore curable.

    He requested ILO to avail the government of President Muhammadu Buhari the necessary technical and institutional support to revive the culture of social dialogue in the country, pledging that the NLC is deeply committed to genuine participation in the revival of social dialogue.

    One of the ways of ameliorating this situation, according to Wabba, is the institutionalisation of a robust social dialogue mechanism reminiscent of the presidency of the late Umoru Yar’Adua, which he said substantially benefitted the industrial relations practice in  the country during the late president’s tenure.

    He said NLC is ready to discuss the core issues of labour interest including job creation, migration management, social protection floors implementation and the broader issues around the structural transformation of the Nigerian economy.

    Wabba welcomed the announcement by the ILO Director General that a Global Commission would be put in place to look at the issues within the world of work as well as serve as a debate document during the centenary of ILO.

    Wabba maintained that for Africa, industrialisation is key to development and both the state and the public service have an immense role to play.

  • NLC seeks action on fuel scarcity

    NLC seeks action on fuel scarcity

    THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to oppose any plan to remove subsidy on petroleum products.

    It urged the Federal Government to ensure that filling stations are dispensing petrol at the approved pump price.

    In a statement by its acting president, Kiri Mohammed, the congress urged the Buhari administration to take charge of the situation and declare an emergency that will address the country’s fuel challenges.

    The congress lamented that   scarcity of the petroleum products has been allowed to linger for four months in an oil producing nation.

    It added those accused of mismanaging fuel subsidy “are still walking the streets free without any of them being brought to book”.

    The statement reads: “The current scarcity of petroleum products entered the fourth month, this month and a credible solution is yet to be provided other than media reports of promises to end the crisis, a crisis that has already further slowed down our national economy and caused hardships to many families and homes, with workers, both in the formal and informal sectors, being the most hit.

    “It has become extremely difficult for workers to get to work because of the perpetual scarcity of petroleum products, which has burdened their salaries as they now have to pay exorbitant transport fares to commute to work, even as majority of them have not received salaries in months.

    “This has become worse as public transportation is scarce due to unavailability of fuel, and this might cause workers to stop resuming at work.

    “While we appreciate the fact that the present government is new, it is important that it takes full control of the situation and declare an emergency that will ensure the pumps at all fuel stations across the country are selling effectively, and at the official price of N87 per litre.

    “Government must not allow itself to be blackmailed, not even by petroleum marketers, to abandon the delivery of goods and services that help our economy out of prevailing doldrums. The unavailability of petroleum products and lack of electricity are some of the reasons our economy is down and any serious government must direct serious attention to this.”

    It added: “While we commend the present administration for taking firm steps at confronting the prevalent terror attacks in some parts of the country, we urge government to also see the scarcity of petroleum products as yet another major challenge that must not be treated with kid gloves.

    “This scarcity must end and the government must do much more to ensure it ends, otherwise our economy will suffer higher damages.

    “We, however, make haste to restate our opposition to the removal of subsidy, if the scarcity is a ploy to arm-twist government to do so. Being a major plank of the economy, the petroleum sector should be subsidised. The current scarcity lends more justification for this, given the monumental effect it has negatively impacted on our national economy.

    “It is apparent that the petroleum industry is enmeshed in corruption, totally seized by a cabal of criminals, who have been beneficiaries of a loose system. But government can’t abdicate its responsibilities on mere grounds of a tiny few using the ineffectiveness and sleaze of the system to deny the Nigerian people quality and productive life.

    “Till date, none of the people accused of compromising fuel subsidy funds have been effectively prosecuted, jailed or compelled by any court to return money looted to the public treasury. Ordinary Nigerians should not be made to suffer the consequence of the ineptitude of any arm of government, and the new government must also not allow itself to be trapped in helplessness. We need fuel, and our government must endeavour to ensure we have it shortly.”