The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Sacked

  • Sacked Bayelsa Speaker faces fresh battle to regain seat

    Sacked Bayelsa Speaker faces fresh battle to regain seat

    The sacked Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, will today engage in a fresh electoral battle to regain his lost Southern Ijaw Constituency 4 seat.

    The PDP-dominated House, in cahoots with the executive arm, had allegedly conspired to leave the office of the speaker vacant pending the outcome of the election.

    It was learnt that Benson was seriously pursuing a victory at the rerun poll to bounce back as the speaker.

    Benson was kicked out of the seat by the Appeal Court sitting in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, in a case filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the constituency, Mr. Ebifaghe Orunimighe.

    There are indications that the former Speaker may return following disagreements in the fold of the APC.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will also conduct rerun election in Ekeremor Constituency 3, where the Appeal Court also nullified the April 2015 election.

    Meanwhile, the commission said yesterday it was fully prepared to conduct the two elections.

    Speaking in Yenagoa, the Head, Voter Education and Public Relations Officer of the commission in Bayelsa, Timidi Wariowei, said the electoral materials had been conveyed to the state capital from Abuja and would be distributed to the various registration centres.

    He said INEC was working with the police and the military to provide security, while arrangements had been made for gunboats that would escort the electoral materials to the registration centres.

    He also said that accreditation of voters and voting would be done simultaneously from 8am in the morning.

    Also, the Bayelsa State Police Command confirmed the deployment of undercover operatives to the Southern Ijaw constituencies.

    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Asinim Butswat, said the deployment of the operatives was part of measures put in place to ensure hitch-free exercise.

    According to him, the undercover operatives are to monitor the activities of policemen and electoral officials deployed for the election exercise.

    He said: “Security agencies have been ordered to enforce the restrictions of movement of boats and all river craft activities in the waterways leading to the affected communities, from 7pm Friday 4th to 7pm Saturday 5th March, 2016.

     “Any person or group of persons, who violates this order will be arrested and prosecuted accordingly. All policemen attached to VIPS should not be sighted near any polling booth.

    “Officers must follow the rule of law and limit their actions to protection of life and property and safety for all electoral officers and materials. Undercover operatives will monitor activities of policemen and electoral officials deployed for the election exercise.”

    The command called on the electorate in the affected constituencies to come out en mass and exercise their franchise by casting their votes for candidates of their choice.

  • Save us from sacked unionists, firm cries out

    •‘Leave me out of your crisis’

    Linda Manufacturing Company Ltd., producers of the popular Expression weavon, has called on the police to save the firm from its sacked unionists.

    The unionists, the firm alleged, have halted its productions for over two weeks under the guise of industrial unrest.

    The firm’s Operation Manager, Monday Nnah, told reporters that the sacked unionists have been preventing workers from entering the firm’s factory on Iju road, Lagos.

    The action, he said, followed the sack of eight unionists who instigated workers at the weavon and brushage sections of the factory on January 26, to vandalise company properties.

    Nnah said the workers were instigated by union officials who claimed to be protesting against poor ventilation and exploitation by supervisors, among others.

    He added that the unionists refused to collect the query issued to them.

    Nnah said another query was not replied, forcing the firm to terminate their employment.

    The Operations Manager fingered the National President of the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), Comrade Boniface Isok, for the industrial unrest.

    When contacted, Isok denied the allegations, saying he had nothing to do with the unrest.

    He said he and his executives were exploring ways of resolving the industrial dispute.

  • Protests over sacked VCs in Abuja

    Coalition of civil society groups yesterday shut down the entrance of the National Assembly and Ministry of Education in Abuja in protest against the sack of 13 vice chancellors by the Federal Government.

    The protesters barricaded the entrance to the Federal Ministry of Education.

    The civil rights organisation described the sack as illegal.

    The protest left commuters and workers stranded for hours in the traffic.

    Addressing reporters, the coalition Chairman, Bassey Etuk, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to relieve the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, of his appointment “because he knows nothing”.

    He said their sack and replacement by people mostly from the North violated the Federal Character principle.

    One of the placards  read: “Six professors were taken from Bayero University, Kano… Haba! Why?”

    The protesters also petitioned Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara.

    The group gave the minister 48 hours to reverse the sack and resign his appointment.

  • Sacked Cadbury workers get N150m lifeline

    Sacked Cadbury workers get N150m lifeline

    Twenty seven sacked workers of beverages grant Cadbury Nigeria Plc have got about N150 million as severance package. The lifeline came after five years of struggle by the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) to get the management of Cadbury to pay them off.

    NUFBTE declared a trade dispute against the management of Cadbury and consistently followed the case until judgment was delivered in October last year. The judgment in favour of the union had directed the company to reinstate the workers and pay them the backlog of their salaries.

    The workers, however, resigned en-mass and demanded for their exit package.

    Cadbury management last month decided to pay the workers off and called them to its headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos State, for the payment. The workers received two and six million naira, based on their positions and job titles.

    However, the chairman of the workers union, Mr. Akinkuotu Adekunle, said the management was still indebted to the embattled workers, as they were only paid their salaries and gratuities.

    According to him, the workers  expect the company to pay their leave bonuses, end of year gifts, which is usually monetised and 13th month incentives, as well as awards and food allowances as part of the exit packages.

    Akinkuotu recalled that the bone of contention was the management’s flagrant disregard of collective bargaining and procedural agreement. According to him, the management, before he was elected, often manipulated the union and sacked workers at will without due consultation with the national secretariat of the union.

    He said:“In 2008, the management wanted to sack workers without the knowledge of our national secretariat. We resisted it until the national union was carried along. The management had not been treating those of us working in Ondo State well at all, here, we are paid peanuts, and before now our monthly medical allowance used to be N200, before we challenged them and it was increased to N1500.”

    He said it was a call for the re-appraisal of the workers’ welfare initiated by the union, which the management refused that snowballed into the crisis. “In 2009, we wrote management for a meeting to reappraise the condition under which we worked, but not until June 2010, that we got the audience.

    “Even at the meeting, management disagreed on all issues we presented and subsequently refused to have any other meeting with us. Rather, the management resorted to threatening and harassing us with mobile policemen, issued us queries and eventually forced us to collect sack letters,” Akinkuotu stated.

    Noting that it was against labour law to disengage workers under duress, Akinkuotu lamented that in total disregard of due process, the management on June 30, 2010 sacked 27 workers.

    The National President of the union, Lateef Oyelekan, though was happy that the workers eventually got their entitlements after five years of struggle, saying that peace and harmony could dominate the workplace if the management could respect the tenets of industrial relations.

    “The issue supposed not to have degenerated to the level of declaring trade dispute because we follow normal procedure, but for the management stubbornness. The lesson for both of us is that dialogue is better than crisis”, he said.

    He said the battle was easier for the union to fight as the workers had implicit confidence in the leadership of the union. Besides, the union was equally paying the embattled workers monthly stipends.

    Oyelekan added that the workers who resigned en-masse after the judgment was in accordance with the union’s advice.

    He stated, “Nobody can force unwilling workers on unwilling employers, and we all know that people don’t go to court and return as friends, this is the reason why we advised our members to resign and get all their entitlements. It is the best option instead of going back to face victimisation and humiliation.”

  • Bello orders reinstatement of Kogi LG chairmen

    Bello orders reinstatement of Kogi LG chairmen

    Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello on Friday ordered the immediate reinstatement of all council chairmen that were relieved of their positions on political grounds.

    In a directive through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Edward Onoja, the governor stated that he is committed to his contract with the people of Kogi State to promote the rule of law and ensure that no one is oppressed based on political beliefs or any other reason whatsoever.

    The Governor directed that in situations where the council vice chairmen are acting in the capacity of the affected chairmen, the former are to revert to their original positions.

    The normalization, said the governor is to be carried out “without rancour, regardless of political differences.”

    According to the directive, LG chairmen who were removed via impeachment are considered to have been legally removed.

    The governor directed the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the Local Government Service Commission to comply immediately and accordingly.

  • Union secures one year salary for sacked workers

    The National Union of Chemical Footwear Rubber Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE) has compelled the management of Nycil Nigeria Ltd. to pay one year salary to its workers who were sacked last month.

    The company, which is based in Sango Ota in Ogun State in December, last year, laid off 17 workers, including four union executives, without following due process.

    The company, which manufactures and markets synthetic resins, emulsions and allied chemicals, was said to have paid the workers only three months, irrespective of the number of years they have served.

    President of NUCFRLANMPE, Mr. Boniface Isok, who led union members to shut Nycil over alleged indiscriminate termination of appointments, accused the firm’s management of not negotiating with the union before sacking the workers.

    He said: “When 40 workers were sacked in June 2015, the company did not consult us and we did not query them. We directed the workers to continue their work in peace. On December 31, another 17 workers, including four union officials, were sacked without negotiating with us.

    “That is why we stopped operation in the company until the management discusses with us and stops all forms of inhumane treatment meted on our members.’’

    He said with the agreement now signed, the management would ensure that gross salary was paid within weeks and further indiscriminate sack of the workers put on hold.

    Isok said the union was not against the disengagement of any employee, but that the management must provide good reasons for its action.

    Human Resources Manager of Nycil, Prince Olufemi Olugbogi, at the meeting, however, apologised to the union for the breach, noting that the action was taken to reduce costs. He explained that the company carried out the sack to reposition the company in the New Year.

    A Controller in the Ministry of Labour and Employment in Ogun State, Mr. Muyiwa Fatoki, who reconciled both parties, advised them to respect the agreements.

    He said it was not enough to pay off workers as stipulated by the law, but that the relevant union should be informed appropriately to ensure that they are carried along in the termination exercise.

    After a rigorous negotiation among the government, union and the management, it was agreed that 12 months’ gross salary should be added to the union officials.

    The parties also agreed that six months’ gross salary should be added to the other staff. They added that no worker should be victimised for their roles in resolving the conflict.

  • No worker sacked, says FUTA VC

    No worker sacked, says FUTA VC

    The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof Adebiyi Daramola, yesterday said no worker was disengaged by the management.

    At a briefing in Akure, the state capital, Daramola said only the institution’s primary school workers were disengaged.

    According to him, the development was in line with the Federal Government’s directive, which ordered universities not to fund their staff schools.

    He said the affected teachers were given proper notice before they were laid off.

    The VC maintained that the management provided a soft landing for the teachers as they were allowed to re-apply for their old jobs.

    Daramola added that the staff of primary and secondary schools of the university are under the institution’s management.

    He expressed concern that the leadership of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) instructed the disengaged staff not to apply.

    He added that the intervention of the Deji of Akure, Oba Ogunlade

    Aladetoyinbo and the Commissioner of Police, Mike Ogbodu, to prevail on the disengaged teachers to re-apply was stalled by the leadership of the two labour unions.

    The don warned the disengaged teachers not to cause a crisis in the university.

    He disagreed with the notion that the university was embroiled in crisis, saying there is peace in the university.

    Daramola noted that the disengaged workers were paid their entitlements through their pension fund administrators, and the university did not owe any of them.

  • Why we sacked Ojobo – Enyimba

    Why we sacked Ojobo – Enyimba

    • People’s Elephant hook Kelly Kester

    Enyimba have stated that they won’t condone indiscipline after the People’s Elephant sacked one of his long standing players, Mark Ojobo for indiscipline.

    The Media Officer of the Aba side, Farriel Allaputa told SportingLife that Ojobo has played his last game for the club after the club terminated his contract over indiscipline.

    Not much information was divulged to SportingLife on what Ojobo did but the attempt to speak with the player in question was met with no result .

    Ojobo’s last assignment with Enyimba was winning the seventh league title in the just concluded season and fetching another CAF Champions League ticket for the Aba side.

    Meanwhile Enyimba have added Kelly Kester, formerly of 3SC to the players they have signed in view of the next soccer season.

    Enyimba have also completed the signing of ex- Kano Pillars’ skipper, Theophilus Afelokhai, Dare Ojo of Kwara United and Ojo Mine of Warri Wolves.

  • Economic downturn: 60,000 construction workers sacked

    Economic downturn: 60,000 construction workers sacked

    No  fewer than 60,000  construction workers have lost their jobs in the last four months, the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) has said.

    The union’s President, Comrade Amechi Asugwuni, blamed  the development on the country’s economic downturn.

    He described the development as a minus to the country’s quest to create jobs, grow the economy and add value to people’s lives.

    Asugwuni deplored the infrastructural deficit in the country, urging President Muhammadu Buhari to address the problem and other social vices to reduce poverty, joblessness and insecurity.

    “The economy is slowing, and promised infrastructural reforms are taking too long to implement, as over 60,000 of our workers have lost their jobs as a result of infrastructural deficit in the last four months,” he said.

    The union called on the Federal Government to unfold its blueprint on infrastructural reforms to accelerate economic growth.

    Asugwuni said there was no way the government could create jobs without focussing on infrastructural development.

    His words: “We have not seen the blueprint of the government on infrastructure, but we want to urge the Federal and the state government to channel the same effort used in fighting corruption into infrastructural development.

    “We believe that Buhari would re-activate all uncompleted projects. The target of any government will not just be on construction of roads, it would be on the development of every other sector of the country.

    ”As a result of the lapses observed in contract awards and execution by previous governments, we are calling on President Buhari to constitute a monitoring committee to check anti-labour practices by employers and poor execution of contracts.”

    To tackle the nation’s economic problems, the union suggested jobs creation through infrastructural development; re-activation of on-going projects to stimulate employment and extensive rail/road networks construction, among others.

    Asugwuni noted that the Ministry of Labour has not been effective, calling on President Buhari to monitor the ministry.

  • Relief for sacked non-Abia  workers

    SIR: The ill-fated journey of the sacked Abia non- indigene workers started in 2011 when the previous administration initiated a policy to identify and expel those who are non-Abians but work in the state civil service. The policy urged its citizens to emulate other Southeast states which had in the past transferred non- natives to their states of origin.

    The policy was contained in a circular entitled “Back-loading on Transfer of Non-indigenes” in the Abia State Public Service to their States of Origin, signed by the Head of Service, G.C. Adiele and subsequently approved by the government. The circular states that all non-indigenes in the public service, including local government, should be transferred to their states of origin with effect from October 1, 2011. However, it exempted those working in tertiary institutions but further directed heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the Local Government Service Commission to submit the names of all non- indigenes in their employment on or before September 1, 2011. It noted that failure to either comply or any connivance would attract serious sanctions from the government.

    It has been pain and agony for the sacked non-indigenes as some have reportedly died in the process, and some incapacitated. But a “Daniel has come to judgment” in the person of the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, and their burdens have been relieved.

    Ikpeazu, in fulfilment of his campaign promises, has reinstated 102 sacked non-indigene staff of Secondary Education Management Board (SEMB) and they have been paid their June salaries.

    Also, out of the 295 non-indigenes formerly in the employment of the Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), 63 have been cleared for reinstatement and are to receive their July salaries while the rest will also be reinstated after being cleared by the Auditor-General for the local governments.

    The governor’s action has been trailed by a series of commendations. The mainstream chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the state, Prince Nnanna Ukaegbu, describes Ikpeazu as a man of his words. He said that Ikpeazu is a man to be relied on any time, any day.

    A few days before the elections, the mainstream APGA in Abia adopted Governor  Ikpeazu as their sole candidate, and one of the cardinal points was the pledge by Ikpeazu to revisit and reverse the sacking of the non- indigenes from the state civil service within his first 100 days in office. The issue, the party members said, was very dear to their heart and they pursued it vigorously.

    A notable civil rights activist of the Civil Liberties Organisation stock in the state, Dr. Charles Chinekezi, describes the action as “the height of responsive and responsible governance”. He wants Ikpeazu to continue on the track.

    The disengagement policy, it will be recalled, attracted severe negative image for Abia State. The policy dented relationships between the sister Southeast states and Abia. It displaced workers from their legitimate and visible means of livelihood. Some analysts declared the action as punitive and a brazen breach and disregard to Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. It was trailed by several litigations.

    One of the reasons cited by the previous administration that justified the sack was over-bloated work force, but Ikpeazu is earnestly addressing the problem through the biometric workers verification exercise.

    Indeed, the reinstatement is a true expression of Ikpeazu’s policy of making Abia a home for all and a comfortable state where the hopes and aspirations of all law- abiding residents will be guaranteed.

    • Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu,  Umuahia, Abia State