The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sack

  • Kogi varsity students sack union leader

    Kogi varsity students sack union leader

    THE Kogi State University (KSU) Students’ Union Government (SUG) crisis has come to a head with the impeachment of the president, Philip Omepa. He was removed by the parliament for alleged funds misappropriation and destruction of the union property.

    But, Philip is contending that his impeachment cannot hold because he has completed his tenure. He claimed that the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Mohammed Sanni Abdulkadir prevailed on him to remain in office until the election of a new president.

    The SUG’s Public Relations Officer, Cosmos Ogiri, who has been feuding with Philip for allegedly collecting bribe from Governor Yahya Bello, resigned to avoid impeachment.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the parliament impeached Philip during an emergency sitting, where the allegations against him were considered. It was gathered that Gabriel Okolo, member representing Animal Science Department, moved the motion for Philip’s impeachment.

    The allegations against Philip include receiving the bribe from the government, embezzlement of funds for the construction of students’ centre, and refusal to appear before the committee investigating misappropriation of the N300,000 voted for national convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

    Other allegations include embezzlement of stipends meant for members of the executive and judicial arms, destruction of union vehicle and embezzlement of money allocated for bus repair, deceit in the discharge of his duty as president and incompetency.

    Conveying the parliament’s decision to the VC, Registrar, Dean of Students’ Affair, Chief Security Officer, and Nationla Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the Speaker, Usman Attaja said it was in line with Article (3), and Article (3), (7) (4, Paragraph A) and Article (10) (1), Paragraph (a) of the SUG constitution.

    The speaker urged Philip to return the union’s property in his possession and stop parading himself as president.

    The Vice President, Anthony Edogbo was sworn in as Acting President. Anthony promised to correct wrongs of Philip’s tenure.

    The Acting President said: “I apologise to all students for the way the affairs of the union were run by the Philip-led executive since the assumption of office. I want to assure our teeming students that efforts are being made to ensure that the institution is re-opened for academic activities.”

    Reacting, Philip described the allegations as frivolous, accusing the speaker of an agenda to cause disaffection in the union. He said he was not given fair hearing by the committee set up to investigate him.

    Philip described the government as the mastermind of his travail, saying the plot was to silence students while the school remains shut over teachers’ strike.

    He said: “I see those who are calling the shot in the SUG as agents being used by government in its ploy to elongate the duration of the students’ stay at home. I have every reason to believe that they (parliament members) have been bought over.

    “The government is using the recently constituted leadership of Kogi chapter of the Joint Campus Committee (JCC), a body that is supposed to oversee the activities of students from all campuses in the state, to weaken the students’ resolve to protest against the authorities over the continued closure of our campus.”

    But, Usman, who also chairs  JCC described Philip as a “drowning man.” He denied the claims of being used by the government to destabilise the SUG. He said students were disenchanted with Philip’s leadership style.

    The Governor’s Director-General of Media and Publicity Mr Kingsley Fanwo denied claims that government infiltrated the JCC. He described the allegation as a “tissue of lies”. He distanced government’s from what he described as “internal wrangling” of students, saying it would not be involved in such “trivial matter”.

    The union has been embroiled in controversy, since its inauguration more than a year ago. There have been allegations and counter allegations of collusion with government to frustrate  the striking workers’ efforts to draw attention to their plight.

    Former Dean of Students’ Affair Dr Usman Ogbo lampooned the students’ leaders for what he called their bad public conduct. He lamented that the union leaders were bickering over money, while academic activities have been grounded for more than three months.

    Students, who spoke with CAMPUSLIFE, described Philip’s impeachment as welcome.

    They said his tenure was marred by stories of failures.

    Bridget David, a 300-Level Law student, said the impeachment was long overdue. She described Philip as a selfish president, adding that his leadership was corrupt and self-serving.

    He said: “The cancellation of the April 1 protest remains fresh in our mind. Since that day, it was crystal clear to many of us that Philip is feeding fat on our plights.”

    Other students said none of the two camps has their interest at heart.

  • Stop mass sack in oil sector, NUPENG tells Fed Govt

    Stop mass sack in oil sector, NUPENG tells Fed Govt

    The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has expressed concern over the increasing job losses in the oil and gas sector and  the closure of international oil companies.

    Addressing reporters after its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Lagos,  its National President, Comrade Igwe Achese, noted that Labour and Employment Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige’s, assurances that there was nothing reassuring in job cut would stop.

    The union urged the Federal Government to prevail on international oil companies (IOCs) country to stop the retrenchment.

    Achese said the delay in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) was majorly responsible for the rot in the industry and the slide in the returns accruable from investments by successive governments and investors.

    He called on the National Assembly to expedite parliamentary actions for speedy passage of the bill for the purposes of engendering transparency, accountability and commensurate returns in the operations of the oil and gas sector.

    He said the union believed that passing the bill will further enhance the visibility and attractiveness of the sector to both foreign and local investors.

    On the privatisation of the refineries, Achese said: “The CWC-in-Session notes the current calls and agitation by some interested capitalists for the privatisation of the nation’s four refineries.

    “We kick against such moves and advise the Federal Government to sincerely do the Turn-Around-Maintenance (TAM) of the refineries and upgrade their systems in order to allow them produce at full capacity. The CWC believes that this will go a long way to reduce the massive importation of petroleum products into the country.”

    Achese also explained that the CWC-in-Session called on the Federal Government to grant tax holidays and free land for investors, who want to establish private refineries.

    He commended the Federal Government’s position to encourage operators of illegal refineries to be integrated into the establishment of modular refineries.

    He advised that the pronouncement should not be political, but matched with actions to train the refiners and put appropriate policies and regulations in place to regulate their operations in order to protect the eco system from possible negative effects of their activities.

    “We further urge the Federal Government to support the refiners with funds necessary for effective and efficient modular refineries, which we believe will go a long way in supporting the supply of petroleum products for local consumption and also generate employment opportunities for the restless youths,” he said.

    Achese lamented that the economy was still generator-driven, adding that power sector privatisation has failed.

    The Federal Government, he said, should put pressure on the electricity generation and distribution companies (GENCOs and DISCOs) to be alive to their responsibilities or have their licenses revoked.

    The union lauded the Federal Government’s efforts at addressing inflation.

    “The CWC x-rayed the state of the economy and commended the government in its efforts to shore up the naira against the dollar and the drop of the inflationary rate to 17.5 per cent.

    “The session, however, stated that a lot still needs to be done to address the current recession and reduce the hunger in the land. The CWC-in-Session wants the Federal Government to address the challenges of poverty, unemployment and hunger in the land.”

    NUPENG added that the  government should vigorously address the issue of rising cost of goods and services.

    “The CWC-in-Session called on the Federal Government to look inward and put structures and strategies to restructure the economy.

    “The Session wants the National Assembly to quickly put finishing touches to the budget so that it can be passed and assented by the President, so that the liquidity squeeze can be addressed and debts owed contractors paid after verification,” Achese said.

  • Sack non-performing ministers, northern youths group tells Buhari

    The northern youths under the auspices of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to waste any further time in terminating the appointment of non- performing ministers in his cabinet.

    According to the Speaker of the AYA ‎in a press statement issued and made available to newsmen in Kaduna yesterday, the youth group urged the President to assess the performance profile of his ministers while he was away on vacation and take necessary action to avoid their non performance affect his good intension for Nigeria.

    The group opined that, “he should go ahead and remove those who performed below expectation” noting that “if there is one unique ingredient of quality leadership that is grossly missing from the pot pourri of our nation’s socio-political. Life today, it has to be that of selfless service to the nation”.

    While recommending sack for non- performing ministers, the youth assembly averred that Brigadier General Boroh (Rtd) deserves a special recognition for managing the Presidential Amnesty Programme, adding, “he deserve a decent mention and attendant space in our society for ensuring peaceful co-existence among the militants and the government.”

    “AYA wish to pay tribute to Professor Benjamin Ozumba, a quintessential scholar, a detribalize Nigerian, a man of vision and ideas whose vice chancellorship was an era of academic ‎oriented leadership, firm and characterized by industrial harmony and stability”.

    AYA further said Professor Ozumba is highly reputed as an academic  giant with a promising agenda which is action oriented, democratic based, achievement motivated by taking a bold steps of introducing Hausa department at the prestigious UNN, first of it kind in South-East, South-South, “the VC is our intellectual Ambassador and Nigeria’s best minds of his generation” the statement stressed.

    Meanwhile, the youth group has condemned in strong terms the xenophobic attack of Nigerians in South Africa and the unwarranted killings of Hausa community in Ile Ife.

    “We condemn the spate of xenophobic attacks by South African on fellow Africans, while many Nigerians have been murder within the last two years in inexplicable circumstance either by South African citizens or even officials of the state.

     

    Certainly, governments of Nigeria and South Africa as well as others need to look beyond verbal darts and move from rhetoric to reality cheeks or actions that can defuse tension on all fronts.

    “We wish to condemn the wanton killing of Hausa community in Ile-Ife for no just reasons, government should bring those behind this ugly trend to book because this issue is dirty to public acceptance,” the group said.

  • SSANU set to shut down FUNNAB over sack of 23 members

    SSANU set to shut down FUNNAB over sack of 23 members

    The National leadership of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) is set for a show down with the management of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, over the sack of 23 of its members.
    The union claimed its members were sacked for exposing alleged corrupt practices by the Vice Chancellor and management of the institution.
    In a communique at the end of its National Executive Council meeting, SSANU said contrary to insinuations from the management of the institution that the union members were disengaged for various act of insubordination, stealing among others, the staff were sacked for reporting corrupt practices in the institution to the EFCC and ICPC.
    The union also wants the federal government to institute a special visitation panel to investigate the activities of the Vice Chancellor and the leadership of other institutions accused of corrupt practices.
    The Governing Council of the university had last Thursday approved the sack of 23 SSANU members, including the entire branch executive of the association, its National Public Relations Officer, the Bursar, three medical doctors and two medical workers.
    The management of the institution claimed that the staff were sacked for “stealing of University property, insubordination and willful disobedience to lawful instructions” , absconding from assigned duty posts, engaging in sabotage and other forms of gross misconduct prejudicial to good governance and peace of the University.
    The union threatened to take legal action to protect the rights of its members and asked the EFCC to immediately conclude its investigation into the petition against the Vice Chancellor and management of the institution.
    The communique signed by the association’s National President, Comrade Samson Chijioke Ugwoke and the National PRO, Comrade A.O. Salaam, read in part: “SSANU NEC in session received the disgusting and shocking news of the recent developments at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, where twenty-three (23) members of the Union, including the entire branch executive of SSANU had their appointments terminated for union activities and for reporting crime to the appropriate organs of government.
    “NEC noted that members of the Union, in spite of the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government, reported serious cases of abuse of power and corruption to the federal government through the presidency, the federal ministry of education, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission.
    “NEC further noted that following invitation of the Vice-Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor by the EFCC, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, began a reign of terror and clampdown on the petitioner’s and the union, culminating in the termination of their appointments without following due process as stipulated by law despite the fact that the matter is pending in court.
    “NEC in session was surprised that rather than being commended for playing roles in the national interest, their appointments were terminated as a cover-up and in retaliation for exposing the rot, corruption and fraud inherent within the system.”
    The union also “condemns the exposure, hazards and tension which members of the union have been exposed to since the investigation started.
    “NEC requests the EFCC to speedily conclude its investigations and further demands that the Federal Government urgently intervenes by setting up Special Visitation/Investigation Panels into the affairs of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, University of Abuja, Federal University of Technology, Akure, and other universities where allegations of corruption have been levelled against the Vice-Chancellors.
    “NEC resolved that it would do everything legally possible to ensure the reinstatement of the sacked workers and urges the Federal Government to act swiftly in the interest of overall peace in the university system.”
    Three SSANU members had recently petitioned the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Olusola Oyewole to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over allegations bordering on corruption and abuse of office leading to the detention of the Vice-Chancellor by the anti graft agency.
    “The National leadership of SSANU had encouraged three of the members to petition the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Chancellor to the EFCC, the ICPC, the Presidency and the Federal Ministry of Education over alleged corruption and abuse of office.”

  • Our Girls; Sack is not punishment

    Our Girls; Sack is not punishment

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. Work and pray for their safe release.

    Once again I spend my evening in darkness and protest, lit weakly by my laptop screen bent forward to illuminate the unlit keys. Why? Because for my sixth week, I refuse to ‘waste’ the money earned today as fuel burning in my generator, substitution for government, just so I can pretend that I live in a country struggling with South Africa to be the ‘largest economy in Africa’. Of what use is ‘economy’ without ‘electricity’? In fact electricity is the basis of any progressive economy. It is not only ‘the economy’ but it is also ‘the quality’ of life, electricity that matters to people and should matter to government. This is 2016 in the super-tech century with 400kph trains and nanotechnology. Nigeria should be better than this. Total commitment to electricity generation and transmission/distribution will allow Nigerians to get on with life. Governments have set too low targets making efforts to meet the national power demand a futile chase. The target should be 1,000Mw/1million Nigerians or 150,000Mw, recommended by the UN. It is no good for a country retarded by a history of corrupt visionless leadership. Our government is crawling in power supply to five or 10,000Mw by 2020???, when it should be ruining to 150,000Mw in multiples of 10,000Mw annually using emergency power companies which can easily supply 10,000Mw within three months and 30,000Mw annually. Do the research.

    And Customs has a role to play in our suffering as the corruption or anticorruption ambassadors at the gateway to Nigeria. President Mills of Ghana publicly berated the Customs of Ghana for failing Ghana’s anticorruption campaign. Is our Nigeria Customs any different? In Nigeria we have just seen the ‘sack’ of customs officers. Nigeria needs more than sack. Nigeria must initiate a STANDARD ANTICORRUPTION PROCESS/RULE- SUSPENSION, RECOVERY, PROSECUTION AND IF GUILTY – REMOVAL FROM OFFICE, RECOVERY OF ASSETS AND RESTITUTION TO VICTIMS. Sack to enjoy ill-gotten gains is a stamp of approval, not censure. It is an additional crime by government too lazy or too intimidated to prosecute. Prosecution is next and restitution must follow. Property must be sold and bank account funds evaluated and recovered. EXTORTED MONEY SHOULD BE RETURNED TO THE VICTIMS. In the case of Customs, importers are not willing givers of bribes. Importers are just victims. Like any victim of avaricious government uniformed officials who put obstacles in the way of ‘custom-ers’ causing frustration which forces compliance with their demands for bribes. Those seeking services are now exactly like a kidnap victim and the family forced to part with money to stay alive economically! The victim is the goods and the family is the company. Who can they report to and not have their goods destroyed by a forklift attack? I have witnessed such an attack on a crate of an intransigent wooden crate owner destroying all the goods in the crate by ‘forklift accident’; Oga you for pay o, why you no pay? Na you cause this accident o! Crash!!!  Does a new wind blow?

    Millions have worked very hard all their lives to keep Nigeria afloat during theft of 50-70% of budgets by military, political, civil servant and contractor collusion and abuse. Nigeria can be better. Are we failures or are the forces of evil too great? Many say Buhari is our last chance. Others say he is biased protecting his APC man and going after anti-APC judges. The thieves and their cohorts shout at President Buhari to forget the past, stolen multi-billions that have crippled Nigeria, and get on with the little left. They ask why is he investigating just Abacha because he is dead and Jonathan because he is a civilian and non-Northern or non-Moslem and not past regimes which also ‘lost’ a lot of money like Babangida’s and Abdusalam’s, but! They say Buhari should forget the anticorruption war even as the thieves are emboldened by a slovenly and corrupted magisterial and judicial court system slower than a sloth. These thieves gloat dancing from adjournment to hospital, conniving with doctors, and back to court. Meanwhile the naira suffers free fall from lack of dollar backing. This free fall makes the billions of dollars stolen from the national and state budgets and now hidden at home in fridges and abroad in children’s accounts grow in value against the toilet-paper naira.

    The recent Justice Okoro account involving Amaechi is a huge opportunity for government to demonstrate that EFCC is unbiased in the war on corruption. The report should be investigated. Indeed the EFCC should be busy with an avalanche of petitions against many judges, magistrates and court registrars. How do court case files move or not move? Where is the electronic system in case filing? Electronic monitoring of file movement in courts is an antidote to court corruption of the file movement mechanism.

    Every serious HND and University Economics, Political Science, Accountancy Department should incorporate classes to ‘Computerise, Detect, Prevent, Report and Whistle-blow on economic crimes. They must use the newspaper reports to compute the billions stolen ‘under investigation’ stolen from government coffers for party funding by all parties. This will give the ‘Quantum Fall in Quality of Life’ from stealing led by politicians. Also Law Faculties and Law Schools should teach how to computerise and make public all court filing and administrative Systems.

     

  • FAAN sacks 22 staff in major shake up

    FAAN sacks 22 staff in major shake up

    A major tsunami hit the Federal Airports Authority Nigeria (FAAN) on Wednesday as over 22 persons including Directors, General Managers and Deputy General Managers were affected in a major shake up.

    There are indications that the Managing Director and the Director of Human Resources have been spared in the ongoing restructuring.

    A source hinted that of the 11 directorates in FAAN, only one was spared.

    A source also hinted that many general managers that were not properly placed have been demoted.

    According to the sources, the sack is the first batch of major job erasure planned by government to re position the airport authority.

    The restructuring another source hinted has received the approval of the Ministry of Aviation, which is planning to right size the airport authority.

    As tension stricken workers gathered in groups on Wednesday, the Ministry of Aviation it was learnt is poised to carry out proper placement of personnel in the authority.

    The restructuring in the airport authority it was learnt is a fallout of a panel’s report headed by the Head of Service, Mrs Winifred Oyo – Ita, which recommended proper placement in the authority.

  • Freeze of Cool FM debunks sack rumour

    Freeze of Cool FM debunks sack rumour

    On-Air-personality, Ifedayo Lucian Olarinde, popularly known as Freeze, is in the news again, with speculations that he has been dismissed from the services of Steam Broadcasting and Company Ltd, owners of Cool FM.

    Although the OAP has taken to his social media platforms to debunk the news, popular online blog, Stelladimokorkus countered his position by posting a memo that appears to confirm his dismissal.

    Earlier, Freeze said: “I never address or dispel rumors but this is the height of it! @instablog9ja, and www.misspetitienaijablog.com have both carried all sorts of slanderous stories about me in the past, without confirmation, before posting their outrageous garbage.

    But this, trust me, would be their last! If this defamatory and slanderous post is not taken down immediately, and unreserved apology is offered, via the same medium within 24hrs, I will be forced to take legal action against both blogs.

    “Yes, there are issues stemming from a meeting over presenters fees yesterday, details of which I choose not to discuss, because of the respect I have for Mr. Moussalli and his family, bus trust me it has nothing to do with Basketmouth or social media…”

    There are speculations that Freeze’s trouble started when he shared a photo throwback picture of himself and wife of popular comedian, Basketmouth.

    Although he had called the comedian’s wife a family friend in the picture caption, people gave it different interpretations, knowing that Freeze and Basketmouth are not in good terms.

    Freeze has since deleted the controversial picture he earlier posted on the social media.

  • Union decries plan to sack 700 varsity workers

    Academic and non-academic workers of the defunct College of Education at Ekiadolor, now Tayo Akpata University, have opposed the plan by the Edo State government to sack over 700 workers of the institution.

    It was learnt the action was meant to pave the way for employment of new workers.

    The Chairman of the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), Comrade Fred Omonuwa, who spoke on the alleged sack plan, said the union was shocked at a statement, last week, by the Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, Thomas Okosun, that some of the university’s workers would reapply for their jobs because they were allegedly “not workers of Tayo Akpata University”.

    But the union leader said the implication of Okosun’s statement was that workers of the defunct College of Education had been sacked.

    He said the union would resist any attempt to sack any of the workers.

    Omonuwa said: “When the chairman of the Board of Council of Tayo Akpata University made that statement, we were disappointed. Apparently, it shows that they are not well informed as to the state of affairs today in the school.

    “I want to say that Okosun may not have read the Agbonlahon Report set up by the state government to verify whether or not that place would be good for a university. The recommendation of the report states that over 130 workers are qualified to lecture in the university, having gone through their curriculum vitae (CVs), their credentials and their published conference papers.

    “In the same report, it was even recommended that those who are with Master’s degrees should be given five years to do their PhD while those with first degrees should be given three years to complete their Master’s degrees. Then, they can lecture in the university.

    “How can you say someone with 20 years’ experience can’t lecture 100-level students? So, when we read Okosun’s comment, we and the college community were disturbed. We were trying to resist them so that government can look into that issue.

    “What that means is that it is tantamount to say you have sacked workers of the defunct College of Education by saying the people should apply afresh. So, a man who has spent 20 years should now apply, for what position?

    “Look at the law establishing universities. Section 7 says news universities inherit assets and liabilities of a defunct college. We are the assets of that college, not just the buildings and the salaries owed are the liability.

  • Ngige: why we asked banks not to sack workers

    Ngige: why we asked banks not to sack workers

    Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has said the government directed the banks to stop terminating the appointment of their staff to ensure industrial peace in the sector.

    The minister dismissed the impression that the government was interfering in the running of private businesses in the country, adding that the nation’s constitution and labour laws allow the him to intervene in such disputes to ensure harmony in the system.

    Speaking at a public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, the minister said denied claims that he threatened to withdraw the licenses of banks, pointing out that what he only did was to direct all parties in the emerging disputes to maintain statuesque, while opting for dialogue.

    He said the government was in receipt of petitions from the unions in the Financial sector which border on unwholesome practices, the height of which was mindless retrenchment as the immediate reason for his intervention, directing all the parties; the bank employers and the unions to maintain the statuesque ante-bellum.

    He said: “We are not interfering in their business. They are there to make money and protect their investments and nobody is against this. But don’t forget that individual Nigerians are also investors in these banks. So they are not the only investors. I have my own shares in these banks and they pay me dividends, which I am pleased with.

    “However, I will not be party to drawing dividends on the blood of helpless Nigerians. The banks can save some of these low cadre jobs by re-adjusting the heavy perks at its top management cadre. We pleaded same with the major oil companies and it worked.

    “We intervened in the spirit of collective bargaining. We got petitions from NUBIFE on casualization, contract staffing, poor remunerations which is not in conformity with equal work, equal pay in our constitution, ill human conditions of service, rampant termination without due compensation and resistance to unionization contrary to section 40 of the constitution.

    “We investigated these claims and found them to be true in some banks. We invited the concerned banks; they gave excuses on why they won’t honour the invitation while they continued with retrenchments.

    “I know my rights as Minister of labour and I will exercise those rights for the benefits of Nigerians, high and low. It is within my power to declare a truce in any industrial crisis. That was why I asked the banks; don’t retrench further and the unions; don’t picket the banks so we can sit down to resolve the issues. The labour law on redundancy says in article 20 that if you negotiate redundancy and a party is dissatisfied, the Minister has the right to intervene.

    “The law makes provision for the employer to disengage a worker if he cannot actually run his enterprise efficiently and effectively with a big load of staff in which case, he will declare redundancy.

    “But it also states clearly the process for doing this. It says you must engage the labour unions in that industry and if it gets out of hand, the local unions will report to their national union. If they can’t resolve this, the parties, unions or the banks will refer it to the Minister of labour for conciliation.”

    He said the constitution and the labour laws as well as to safeguard the interests of all parties while ensuring peaceful industrial milieu for enhanced productivity in the sector.

    “The constitution is the supreme law of the land. The constitution is aware that we are in a society where all of us will not be equal and that everybody must be protected – big and small. That is why in sections 14, 15 and 16 and even 17, it protects the employer, the economy and the workers.

    “It is from these provisions that the National Assembly enacted the labour laws to guide all of us on how to deal with the issues of employment. So, all that my ministry has done is to execute and protect these laws from infractions. I acted in good faith to protect the interest of all.”

    Speaking on unionization in the banks, the Minister said the only institution in the Financial sector where staff are exempted from unionization is the Central Bank and that no other bank in the country had the right to prevent its staff from forming a union.

    “Unionization according to the constitution and labour laws is the right of workers. There are exemptions and the institutions that are exempted are clearly listed. Here, it is only the Central Bank that is exempted in the banking sector. And the law says again that the Minister of labour in his wisdom can grant a waiver to any institution. I have not granted waver to any bank and I will not grant such”.

    The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking and Finance, Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, hailed the minister for his proactive intervention and gave firm support to his decision on dialogue with all social partners as the only option to the peaceful resolution of the industrial disagreement in the sector.

    “I sincerely commend the federal government for being willing to work with the banks to find a common solution to this issue of retrenchment, which affects almost every family in Nigeria. I am grateful that all of us have all agreed to dialogue and I implore you to do justice to all issues before the stakeholders’ summit is convened in July. I therefore appeal to everybody to be humble and to be open in our different positions at the talks”.

    “I am happy with the explanation of the Hon. Minister on the issue of bank licences, that he did not threaten that the Federal Government would withdraw their licenses; that it was a case of misrepresentation. That gives a convivial atmosphere for all the social partners to freely dialogue and peacefully resolve all issues.”

  • Ortom debunks rumour of workers retrenchment

    Ortom debunks rumour of workers retrenchment

    Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has dismissed widespread rumour that his administration was planning to downsize the state’s workforce because of economic constraints.

    Governor Ortom who stated this while fielding questions from journalists at the end  of the meeting he held with officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE  and affiliate unions at Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, said the  meeting addressed the problem of non-payment of salaries.

    Governor Ortom said the difficulties he has faced in paying salaries arose as a result of the dwindling allocation to the state which dropped to N1.3 billion and explained that the allocation was too meager to meet the challenges confronting the state.

    He maintained that Benue workers contributed immensely to his emergence as governor, and reiterated that he has no intention to downsize the workforce even in the face of economic challenges.

    “I am not thinking of downsizing the workforce for now, we are thinking of industrializing the state so that even civil servants can go into the industries and forget about civil service; workers in Benue state are part of me, they contributed immensely in making me governor, and there is no way I will toy with their welfare,” he added.

    He said, the only way the state can wriggle out of the quagmire is to borrow money to offset the backlog of unpaid salaries of workers who are the ‘drivers of the economy’.

    In separate interviews, the state Chairman of NLC, Comrade Godwin Anya, as well as his NULGE and TUC counterparts, urged the state governor to obtain more loans to clear workers’ salaries.

    “I support the idea that the governor should borrow money again to clear workers’ salaries because as long as we live, we cannot die because there is no money, so, if it means borrowing one hundred times, NLC will agree that government should go ahead and borrow”, Anya said.

    On his part, the state NULGE Chairman, Mr. Terungwa Igbe, also supported the move to obtain another loan to pay workers, stressing that local government workers needed to be paid.