Former President of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Dr. Louis Brown Ogbeifun has advised labour leaders to de-emphasise strike as a means of dispute resolution.
Ogbeifun urged parties to industrial relations to always strive to fulfil their fiduciary duties and responsibilities to avoid conflicts.
He advised that where dispute arises, parties should resolve workplace conflict using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms instead of lockouts and industrial actions.
“The alternatives to lockouts and strikes are litigation, arbitration, conciliation, mediation, among others.
Ogbeifun, who is the president of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC), spoke in Abuja, at a three-day workshop on “new blueprint on conflict prevention, resolution and management.”
The event was organised by the National Commission for Colleges of Education, in collaboration with the Ethics Resource Centre, Nigeria and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
In his paper: “Mediation and arbitration skills for effective prevention and resolution of conflicts in a season of charge and resource scarcity,” Ogbeifun argued that change is inevitable in the life of an organisation wishing to survive.
He said in time of change, leaders, while keeping their eyes on the desired outcome, should effectively manage the change measures to ensure minimal pains to those being led.
“No matter the difficult nature of change, leaders from both divides are expected to make difficult decisions. They should be able to have equilibrium between emotions, actions and decisions.
“They should be able to combine emotional intelligence skills with ethical values to achieve targets, maintain face with constituents, remain hope carriers and stress pacifiers to those whom the change would impact.
“To the followers, they should see change as proposed improvements through a set of strategies instituted to modify the ways things are done and move the organisation away from internal and external processes for a better performance,” Ogbeifun said.
Founding Chairman, Exam Ethics Marshals International (EEMI) Ike Onyechere contended that the country requires industrial peace at the moment to enable it successfully manage conflict situations resulting from changes in the economy.
He said the economic reality requires that the Federal Government evolves mechanisms to shore up its revenue base, including “enhancing tax receipts, fees and internally generated revenues.”
Onyechere, who urged all to support the Federal Government’s anti-corruption efforts, urged stakeholders in industrial relation to always seek amicable ways of resolving disputes.
