The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Strike

  • Ebonyi workers begin indefinite strike

    The organised labour in Ebonyi State yesterday declared an indefinite strike to begin today, following government’s non-implementation of the minimum wage and non-payment of September 2011 salary.

    Chairman of the Joint Public Service Negotiating Council Comrade Ikechukwu Nwafor, after the union’s meeting with organised labour, accused the government of its unwillingness to meet its demands.

    “Following Ebonyi State government’s unwillingness to meet the demands of the organised labour, with respect to the implementation of the report of the committee, which revisited the table of the Ebonyi State Civil/Public Service Salary Structure and September 2011 withheld salary, the organised labour in Ebonyi State hereby declares an indefinite strike, with effect from March 10.

    “Accordingly, civil/public service workers in Ebonyi State’s employ, local government employees and teachers are directed to proceed on an indefinite strike until government meets our demands.

    “Workers are mandated to stay in their homes and await further directives from the leadership of the organised labour,” the statement said.

  • We won’t go on strike, say police

    Policemen in Ondo State have disassociated themselves from the rumours that police officers are planning to embark on strike over poor welfare package.

    The officers, who spoke at a briefing by the Commissioner of Police, Isaac Eke, also passed a vote of confidence on the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba and Eke.

    A statement by the spokesman, Wole Ogodo, on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, said the IGP’s determination to prioritise police officers’ welfare was sacrosanct.

    The statement reads: “Reacting to the rumoured strike, the officers and men ranging from constable, corporal, sergeant and inspector ranks, declared that they were not part of the purported action.

    “They pledged their support for IG Abba and Commissioner Eke, thereby committing to maintaining peace in the state.”

  • NTDC workers’ strike enters second week

    NTDC workers’ strike enters second week

    The strike by workers of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), the country’s apex tourism body, has entered the second week.

    The workers have vowed to continue with the industrial action until the agency’s director general, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo, is removed from office.

    Last week, official activities at the parastatal’s Abuja and zonal offices were stopped.

    The workers, through their union, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), have made several allegations against Mrs. Mbanefo.

    They accused her of starving the agency of fund under the guise that the Federal Government was no longer funding the parastatal.

    The workers accused her of “going behind to collect huge allocation from the Federal Government”.

    The NTDC Chapel Chairman of AUPTCRE, Sam Unwuchola Okpomo, said as at July 2014, the Federal Government released N52,014,821 as capital budget and N342, 654,807 for training and other logistics to the agency.

    However, when The Nation called Mrs. Mbanefo, she denied any wrongdoing, insisting that there was no problem at the NTDC.

    She said: “There is no problem at NTDC; everything is going on fine.” When told that NTDC chairman of AUPTCRE had spoken to The Nation to confirm the problem in the agency, she said efforts were on to resolve it.

    She claimed that she will be meeting with the union officials tomorrow.

    However, the NTDC chapel chairman said this was not true, asking why she was not coming to the office, if all was well.

     

     

     

     

  • Osun labour unions on collision course over strike

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Joint Negotiation Council (JNC) in Osun State are on a collision course with the Senior Civil Servants Association of Nigeria  (SCSAN) over a proposed warning strike.

    The SCSAN, through its chairman, Akinyemi Olatunji, gave the government a seven-day ultimatum to look into workers’ demands, including payment of salaries arrears or face industrial action.

    But the chairmen of the TUC and JNC, Francis Adetunji and Bayo Adejumo, warned workers against any “illegal strike”, saying anyone who fails to be at his duty post is “on his own”.

    The duo maintained that the SCSAN, as an affiliate of TUC, has no power to unilaterally ask workers to embark on an industrial action.

    They maintained that the government has regularly engaged and informed the leadership of the JNC, TUC and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on issues bordering on welfare of workers.

    The duo said: “We are convinced about the sincerity of the government in the face of  dwindling and late payment of  federal allocation to the state.”

    The JNC and the TUC, at a joint briefing at the weekend in Osogbo, the state capital, said there are processes and procedure for going on strike and which only  authorised unions could apply.

    They insisted that SCSAN is an affiliate of the TUC and therefore could not  call for workers’ strike alone.

    The duo said the ultimatum given by the association was not in line with labour law.

    Saying the state government had explained factors responsible for its inability to pay salaries as at when due, they urged workers to be considerate in their demands.

    The labour leaders also noted that most of the issues raised by SCSAN had been resolved by the government.

    Olatunji has been going from ministry to ministry ,asking workers to join a seven-day warning strike, starting from today.

    He highlighted the workers’ demands, which include prompt payment of workers’ salaries, promotion and review of contributing pension scheme.

  • IGP angry at police officers’ strike threat

    IGP angry at police officers’ strike threat

    The Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, has expressed anger over the threat by some officers to embark on strike for unpaid allowances.

    Abba’s annoyance came following a media report with the headline: “Policemen threaten strike over unpaid salaries”.

    A statement yesterday by the Force Spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu, explained that the IGP was miffed that officers did not recourse to approved channels to air their perceived grievances.

    It stated: “It is pertinent to state that the leadership of the Nigeria Police is mindful of its responsibility towards the welfare of the workforce; part of which is promotion and recognition of hard work.

    “As is expected, every promotion attracts some financial benefits, and which have been deeply considered in the course of processing and approving the promotions.”

    The IGP, however, explained that the police was working with relevant government departments and agencies to effect the payment of the promotion arrears, adding that all promoted officers have been enjoying the salary attached to their new ranks since 2015.

    “It needs be stated for the umpteenth time that the Nigeria Police is founded on the bedrock of discipline and loyalty. The police regulation has provided enough windows for aggrieved officers to ventilate their grievances,” the statement added.

    The police chief drew the officers’ attention to the consequences of breaching extant rules and regulations of the force.

    Pledging his commitment to reposition the welfare of the Force, Abba said: “I wish to use this medium to restate my commitment to the welfare of officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force”.

  • Health workers’ strike paralyses activities

    Barely two weeks after the National Joint Health Sector Union called off the three months nationwide strike, the Joint Health Sector Union,  Federal Medical Centre, Lokoja, Kogi State chapter, yesterday embarked on an indefinite strike over internal crisis.

    This paralysed activities at the medical centre,  as patients were asked to go home, while the workers refused to attend to them.

    When reporters visited the hospital, it was deserted,  as the Records Office, Accounts Section, Pharmacy and other departments were shut. Patients were not allowed access to the hospital.

    The workers, it was learnt, demanded the payment of the backlog of unpaid allowances.

    A source said the union was worried over the inability of the management to remit union dues deducted from the workers’ salaries.

    It was gathered that the management owed the newly-employed workers one month salary.

    The source said the union was also asking the management to upgrade the entry point salary of laboratory scientists from Grade  7-2 to 9-2, as obtained in other federal hospitals.

    The union was said to have written a warning letter to the management, but when there was no response, it embarked on the strike.

    Contacted on the phone, the Chief Medical Director, Dr. Debo Elesho, urged reporters to visit the hospital, but later said he could not attend to them because the management was in a meeting with the union to sort out things.

  • Health workers strike: Resident doctors allege attack

    It was sheer luck for many doctors, especially Resident Doctors (RD), who were on duty last week, as members of Joint Health Staff Union (JOHESU) allegedly stormed the premises of Gwarinpa General Hospital, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and unleashed anger at health officials at the premises.

    It was expected that the hospital would be deserted since the health workers union had been on strike.

    ýThe FCT President, Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr Isaac Akerele, alleged a senior doctor was unlucky as she was terribly manhandled.

    According to him, the attackers broke down all entrance to the main block including the laboratory and caused panic that led to intensive care resuscitation of some patients.

    He said though, the reason for JOHESU action was not stated but apparently angered because some doctors have been successfully attending to patients while the union was on strike.

    However, Akerele described the act as a ‘barbaric behaviour totally condemnable, unacceptable and a fatal error.’

    He accused that the group was led by one Mr. Shuaib Onucheyo, a Laboratory Technician who work with Nyanya General Hospital.

    His words: “This group came to the Gwarimpa General Hospital with all manners of weapons including firearms that were used to shoot tear canisters into the hospital. This attack left many including patients injured with some in critical conditions at the intensive care unit especially a very senior colleague who was attending to preterm babies at the time of this attack.

    “We are calling on all authorities especially the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to urgently investigate the sources of weapons used.

    “We equally call on the FCT authorities to investigate and apply public service rules to protect our members on call. To this effect a letter has been to the FCT authorities. In this vein, I have directed our lawyers to institute a legal action against these persons and the body they represent for damages.

    “As law abiding professionals we do not want to take laws into our hands while we are sending strong warnings to any groups or persons or associations to stop harassing our members. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

  • Judiciary workers suspend strike

    Judiciary workers suspend strike

    •JUSUN denies alleged manipulation by AGF

    Lagos State judiciary workers will resume for work today following the suspension of their 25-day  industrial action.

    Sources said the union leaders under the umbrella of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) met at the weekend on the strike.

    They also met with officials of the state government led by the Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaye.

    At the end of the meeting, JUSUN’s state chairman Emmanuel Abioye sent a text message to Ipaye informing him of their decision to suspend the strike.

    Ipaye, in a text message sent to The Nation yesterday, gave insight into the meeting held by the two parties.

    The text message reads:  “At a meeting with JUSUN, we made it clear that Lagos State already had a Judiciary Self Accounting  Law since 1995, which is being implemented to date with the judiciary getting its recurrent vote as first line charge on the consolidated revenue fund once a month.

    “We explained that capital fund cannot, however, be transferred monthly as it has to be accumulated and used for many projects programmed for simultaneous implementation. Besides, projects are better managed by the Ministry of Works, which was set up to serve all arms of government.

    “In the end, our position was that Lagos State was already implementing the provisions on autonomy of the judiciary. JUSUN promised to go and look into these. Now, they have resolved to suspend the strike”.

    Meanwhile, the General Secretary of  JUSUN, Isaiah Adetola distanced himself yesterday from a statement alleging threat to his life and manipulation of the union by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

    The statement, which was widely circulated in the social media last week, claimed that Adetola was opposed to the move by Adoke and the Federal Government to manipulate JUSUN’s leadership and exploit the strike by the union for political gains.

    Speaking at the JUSUN’s National Secretariat in Abuja last week, Adetola said he was embarrassed by the statement, “authored by some enemies of the union with the intention to divide it and distract it from the struggle for the independence of the Judiciary”.

    He urged everyone to disregard it.

    JUSUN President Marwan Adamu said the union decided to suspend the strike in federal courts alone because the Federal Government gave assurance to always release funds standing to the credit of the judiciary when due.

    He said the decision to sustain the strike in state courts was because the states were unwilling to give similar pledge.

    Marwan denied the allegation that his union was being manipulated by external forces for political gains.

  • Government’s Nonchalant Attitude To Health Workers’ Strike

    The general elections coming up next month seem to   have taken the attention of almost everybody away  from a fundamental issue; an issue that’s very germane, if not the most germane as far as human existence is concerned.

    For the past three and a half months now health workers under the aegis of Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU) have gone on an indefinite strike owing to non-implementation of the agreement the Federal government reached with them. This strike has paralised our health sector with dire consequences for us as people are dying daily for lack of medical attention.

    As pathetic as this situation is the government appears so unconcerned about the crisis in this critical sector as Mr. President and other key government officials are deeply sunk in the campaign for  the February general elections. For Mr. President and and his supporters all that matters to them now is the re-election of Jonathan as president. This is at the expense of this most important sector.

    But to say that only the government in power is guilty of this nonchalance appertaining to the health workers’ strike is to be economical with the truth. The opposition too is guilty as they are also not talking about the strike. The civil society groups too cannot be said to be showing the expected concern while at the level of the media little are we on the neck of the government to urgently address this situation. Everyone’s focus is on the coming elections.

    Much as the February general election is crucial to our survival as a nation, to neglect the health sector because of the election is, to me, the most preposterous thing to do especially during this period when all sorts of strange deadly diseases are springing up and spreading fast across the continent.

    The nonchalant attitude of the government to the health workers’ strike has further exposed the insensitive and irresponsible nature of the government of the day. Indisputably this ‘I don’t care attitude’ on the part of the government is completely detrimental to public health. No reasonable government will neglect a critical sector like health because of election. This is absolutely illogical and it portrays the government as grossly irresponsible.

    Axiomatically health is wealth. Let the government of president Jonathan know that it’s only those who are alive and healthy that can go out to vote on election day. A sick person who has been denied medical attention cannot go out to vote. Neither will his/her family members that have become psychologically depressed and unstable due to the ill health of their relation, and whose condition has been made worse by the strike action also think of voting.

    Honestly, I have never seen a democratically elected government that has been more irresponsible and nonchalant than that of president Jonathan. And I don’t have apology for saying this. When a government turns a deaf ear to the demand of its health workers to the extent that strike is allowed to become the instrument of negotiation and when the strike is further allowed to linger indefinitely then such a government is a wicked one that doesn’t deserve to be re-elected.

    For God’s sake why would a government has so much penchant for nonchalance? It’s quite worrisome! Jonathan’s administration has become notorious for neglecting the plight of members of this critical sector. And for me this is the height of irresponsibility. I continue to wonder what sorts of advice Mr. President receive from his advisers and whether he himself even takes time to talk to himself.

    This same ‘I don’t care attitude’ was shown to doctors’ strike last year. The government even went as far as sacking the resident doctors during that strike while it threatened fire and brimstone against the doctors. If not for much public outcry that forced the government to rescind that harsh decision it would have been a disaster writ large for our health sector.

    But that strike didn’t go without its accompanying damage as it resulted in many lives being lost while we also lost some of our doctors to foreign countries that are ever ready to hire Nigerian doctors for better treatment. One would therefore have expected a responsible government to avert another strike in the health sector soon after the doctors’ strike. This only goes to show the level of unseriousness of this government about the plight of the people especially as it concerns public health.

    Even if for political reason should government not address the demand of these health workers? This to-hell-with-them posturing shows how insensitive this government is. And this is a government that is seeking re-election! For the electorate that are members of JOHESU will they want this government to come back? Will they vote for a government that has turned a deaf ear to their demand?

    Of course answers to the above questions will be capital No. Thus President GEJ and his PDP should just forget the votes of this constituency unless he quickly addresses their demand. Even if he does, I doubt if they will still feel comfortable to give him their votes. I think he has given them enough maltreatment to lose the votes of that constituency.

    President GEJ must address the demand of JOHESU now without further delay. I have looked at their demand and I sincerely believe that they are not asking for too much. This avoidable strike has been allowed to linger for more than necessary. To avoid further loss of lives and total collapse of the health sector government must respond to health workers now, and positively too. Enough is enough to untimely deaths being recorded daily due to this strike.

  • SEC, fund managers strike partnership on N152b mutual funds

    Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and fund managers would work together to enlighten the investing public and further develop the mutual funds industry. The total assets of mutual funds in Nigeria are estimated at N152 billion.

    At a meeting between SEC and fund managers under the auspices of Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), SEC and FMAN agreed on the need to further collaboration in order to develop the potential of the fund management industry and the capital market. Members of FMAN visited the acting director general of SEC, Mr. Mounir Gwarzo in Abuja.

    Gwarzo said SEC would embark on intensive investors’ education to woo retail and institutional investors in order to improve the level of domestic participation in the capital market.

    He said one of the strategies of the new management is to embark on huge public enlightenment programme with other stakeholders to educate the investing public.

    “Fund management is close to our heart as it is directly under our purview. In dealing with others, we partner with other Self Regulatory Organisations (SROs). We will collaborate with you anytime we want to commence the enlightenment through the use of town hall meetings, radio jingles among others. We are ready to put in money for market development and that is one of the cardinal objectives of this management,” Gwarzo said.

    President, Fund Managers Association of Nigeria (FMAN), Michael Adebola, noted that Nigerians need to have a lot of understanding about what mutual funds is all about adding that the enlightenment will assist to boost the industry.

    “We have 52 funds in 10 different sectors with the largest being the equity based ones which presently stands at 45. Between 2008 and 2009, all we had invested in funds was about N19billion, but as at last week, we had N152 billion,” Adebola said.

    He assured that FMAN would work with the SEC on enlightenment of the investing public which would translate into a bigger fund market in the country.

    Director, Collective Investment Scheme (CIS), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mrs Louisa Eni-Umukoro, had recently said SEC was considering review of the cost structure and expenses of mutual funds with a view to ensuring that more returns accrue to investors.

    She said the Commission was concerned about the expenses and costs relative to fund management.

    According to her, SEC is considering introducing a multi-fee class structure for the mutual funds alongside other measures to reduce costs.

    “We are looking at introducing a multi-fee class structure whereby the more you subscribed, the less you pay. It’s something we are going to work out with the fund managers,” Eni-Umukoro said.

    She said SEC is considering reviewing downward the current expense ratio ceiling of 5.0 per cent to discourage frivolous expenses by some managers warning that the Commission will start to publish expense ratios of mutual funds on its website.

    Eni-Umukoro said the apex capital market regulator has amended its rules and regulations to cut down expenses relative to fund management.