The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Union

  • El-Rufai and State of the Union

    El-Rufai and State of the Union

    By virtue of his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, Kaduna State Governor  Nasir El-Rufai has unfettered access to the seat of power in Aso Rock. So, barring any problems, he can see the president at anytime for discussion on national and other issues. Also, being a governor, there are other avenues for him to meet the president for talks. The El-Rufai we  know may have explored all these avenues at one time or the other. Did he utilise them? Did he explore these avenues beforesending a memo to the president on September 22, 2016.

    In the memo, he raised salient national issues bordering on governance, the running of their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and the alleged stifling of ministers by a cabal in the Presidency. What the self-styled ‘’Accidental Public Servant’’ said in his memo is not new. It is what we hear everyday from people complaining that the Buhari administration has not done anything to soothe their pains almost two years after coming into office. Since the president lives among us, he has on two or so occasions,  acknowledged that the people are not happy with his administration and appealed to them for understanding.

    Though not his first memo to the president, this has generated a lot of heat because of the believed that he leaked it.  El-Rufai may not have lived up to the pedestal he expects of the president, but then he cannot be held responsible for the country’s problems because he leads a microcosm of it. But because he is not a saint (who is?) does not mean that he should not speak out when things are going wrong.

    As a member of the same party with the president, they should join hands together to find solutions to the country’s problems. He should not heap all the blames on the president. If Buhari fails, it is APC that fails and that failure will be that of all members of the party. Through his memo, El-Rufai pointed out what he considered the problematic areas for the president to work on. His memo shows that he is pained that nearly two years after their party came to power, Nigerians have yet to feel the impact of the ‘’change’’ it promised them.

    ‘’Mr President, there is an emerging view in the media that you are neither leading the party nor the administration and those neither elected nor accountable appear to be in charge, and therefore the country is adrift. We are facing an unprecedented national economic crisis, but our administration has failed to roll out a coherent response and action plan, or even appeal to our patriotism with a rallying cry to unite and sacrifice in the face of adversity’’, he said. The governor was blunt in his critique of the Buhari administration. If you ask me, I will say that is how it should be if we wish to make a headway as a nation. We need those who are insiders in government to speak the truth to themselves  for the sake of our country.

    Really, it would not have cost El-Rufai anything to keep silent as if all is well. We all know that things are not as they should be because of the mismanagement of the past. But for how long will we continue to dwell in the past? The electorate voted the APC because of their believe that the party will wipe away their tears and return the country to the path of greatness. The Buhari administration has started well, but it needs to do more for it to continue to have the people’s trust. Blaming past administrations, as El-Rufai pointed out in his memo, will not solve the problems. What will do the trick is for the Buhari administration to pull itself up by the bootstrap and tackle the problems frontally.

    Hear El-Rufai : ‘’You have inherited serious political, economic and governance problems that you had no hand in creating, but now have a duty to solve. These inherited problems were aggravated by the continuing slide in crude oil prices and the renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta that reduced oil production by more than 50 percent! In my honest opinion, we have made this situation worse by failing to be proactive in taking some political, economic and governance decisions in a timely manner.

    ‘’In very blunt terms, Mr President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage the expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting Boko Haram insurgency and corruption. Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well’’.

    His summation is not farther from the truth. El-Rufai may have been impolitic in his approach, but should we always reduce matters of governance to politics all because we are in the ruling party? We need jolts like this from those within the system to hasten our growth as a nation. May El-Rufai’s wake up call ginger the president and his party to greater action.

  • Union wants FG to establish Tailoring Institute in Nigeria

    The National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has called on the Federal Government to establish a Tailoring Institute in the country to enhance professionalism.

    The union’s General Secretary, Mr Isah Aremu, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

    He said that the institute would enhance the capacity and the training of tailors in the country.

    “We are calling on the Federal Government to immediately set up the National Institute for tailors.

    “The tailors need to improve on their skills in order to do their job very well, because right now, there is a skill gap in the profession.

    “And this does not make our tailors to be competitive compare to their colleagues in other parts of West Africa.

    “So, we want the institute to be established strictly for the tailors to build their capacity and improve their skills,” he said.

    Mr Ali Paul, President, Nigeria Union of Tailors (NUT) also told NAN that establishment of the institute would enhance the profession.

    “There are too many tailors in the country, especially now that the white collar jobs are not really available.

    “ If you look at our teeming youths, especially the graduates, you will find out that as they are graduating most of them are going into the fashion industry.

    “So, the training institute if establish will create jobs, efficiency in the profession and boost the country’s economy.

    “It will also take the fashion industry to another level, if established,  it will surely be  a welcome development,” he added

  • Union kicks as AeroContractors sacks workers

    The management of AeroContractors  yesterday issued letters of sack to 60 per cent of its 1,030 work force .

    The “letter of redundancy” that conveyed the sack of the workers  was informed by  its unrealistic personnel costs and other operational challenges.

    In its reaction, the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) yesterday accused the airline’s management of not carrying its members along in taking the decision.

    Its  President, Comrade Ahmadu Ilitrus said he was not aware of the purported redundancy notice to workers of the airline, adding that it is unacceptable to the association.

    He said the union has advised workers not to collect any letter from the management of the airline.

    Aero said the issuance of notification of redundancy is a business decision that will ensure its survival.

    The airline decried the current situation where over 1000 people are basically not engaged due to lack of serviceable aircraft.

    “ The huge monthly salary associated with a bloated workforce will eventually kill the airline, which is not the intention of the current government,”Aero explained in a statement.

  • Union backs govt

    The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MAWUN) has urged its members to support the Federal Government in its drive to boost the economy and facilitate trade at the ports.

    The union also pledeged to work with the government to achieve its maritime and economic policies.

    Speaking with The Nation after kicking off the campaign for the union’s President-General in Lagos, the out-going Vice-President, Comrade Dahiru Abubakar, said  the group would collaborate with the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies to secure the waterways if elected.

    He said the union, apart from protecting the interests of its workers by assisting the government to create sustainable employment opportunities, would also create a sustainable networking framework with the stakeholders in the maritime industry to achieve the nation’s maritime goals.

    Abubakar said his team would ensure that all maritime protocols, conventions and treaties were domesticated.

    The group, he said, would ensure that clerks and onboard security men are catered for through genuine engagement of the government at the sea ports.

     

  • Union seeks instalmental fee payment

    President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO), Ondo State, Temitayo Ayejuyo has said plans are underway to introduce new method of payment of school fee. The union, he said, was holding talks with management on instalment payment to ease students’ burden.

    Temitayo, a Higher National Diploma (HND) Accountancy student, made this known during a congress held at the Centre Café Auditorium to commemorate his 100 days in office.

    He said: “During my campaign, I promised to ensure payment of school fees would be done in instalments. I am assuring you now that, before the end of February, students will start paying their fees in instalment. We are in talks with the management.”

    The union leader said the congress was held to enable students participate in decision of the union. This, he said, was part of his campaign promises to keep the union vibrant and enhance service delivery.

    Students had the opportunity to ask their leaders questions on the union’s progress in the last 100 days.

    Temitayo, who was elected as SUG president after his third attempt, stressed the need for students to support the union leaders. He said the union had ensured the school released the results of first semester examination before the second semester started. He promised to ensure the tuition fee is being paid on instalment basis among other promises.

    The union leader reiterated that accountability and transparency would remain the focus scale of his administration. He clarified the increment in the union’s yearly due from N500 to N1,000 and changing of the due payment form manual to bank deposit, which students described as insensitive.

    He said: “As a leader who believes in accountability and transparency, the new method is to ensure accountability. We knew what transpired during the administration of our predecessor. The method they used lacked transparency.”

    He said the payment through bank deposit was introduced to make it easier for students to know how the union funds are spent. Temitayo said the union would revert to old method temporarily to enable more students pay.

    Reacting to an issue raised by a ND II Mass Communication student, Deborah Olajutemo, about inadequate toilets on campus, the union president promised to address the situation “as soon as possible”.

  • Address job losses in banking, union urges govt

    Address job losses in banking, union urges govt

    The Association of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) President, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, has said the government’s policies are forcing banks to retrench workers. She urged the Federal Government to review policies that might affect the insurance and banking sectors.

    Speaking with The Nation, Comrade Oyinkan said: “We realised that our members are losing their jobs and it has become a tripartite issue in the sense that it is no longer the fault of the employees or that of the employers, but also government’s policy. We operate in the financial sector, not manufacturing sector, so the only thing we deal with is fiscal.”

    She also said the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has been a problem to the union. “No matter the advantages of TSA, the government cannot just withdraw all their money from the banks and expect them to survive. We are trying to take a proposal to the government that if they are withdrawing their money from the banks because of TSA, they should loan it to the banks as an investment and at lesser interest rates. This will ensure liquidity in the system because with the way we are going, there is no money in the system,” Comrade Olasanoye said.

    According to her, the government is the biggest spender, but now it has not been spending.

    “This is affecting our members. The majority of our employers have issues because the policy is making business difficult to run. We are tackling the issue this year by engaging with government on its monetary policies. We are also engaging with our employers in order to save our jobs,” she said.

    She said the situation had reached a stage where ASSBIFI could no longer insist that banks should not retrench when the policies in place were forcing them to do so. “It is not about the government coming out to say banks should not retrench, but rather to know what they are doing to make it possible for banks not to retrench,” she added.

    Admitting that TSA is a very good policy, Comrade Olasanoye insisted that there should be a human face to every policy. “That we are trying to save government expenses and income does not mean it must totally collapse the banking sector. When the government was bringing TSA, they should have considered so many things. People are saying banks are no longer doing their core business, but that they run after government investment, yes, we should go into retail banking. But before we get to that stage, there must be a foundation,” she pointed out.

    She said apart from the need to do things gradually, the government should have considered the human factor before coming out with the policy. The government, she also said, should have assigned different parastatals to various banks.

    “For example, Skye Bank could be collecting all the TSA involving Nigerian Customs Service, while Unity Bank could be collecting that of the Nigerian Army,” the ASSBIFI chief, said, noting that with such arrangement, no bank would run out of cash.

  • Why we need musicians’ union in Nigeria, by Eno Louis

    Why we need musicians’ union in Nigeria, by Eno Louis

    A former resident member of Fela Kuti’s Republic of Kalakuta, Eno Louis, is craving for the rebirth of Nigerian Union of Musicians (NUM), as a way of making music business more professional and economically viable for practitioners.

    Louis noted that the present Nigerian musicians have no union, saying that, the Performing Musicians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN), as presently constituted, is not a musicians’ union.

    “The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) is an association strictly for medical doctors. A nurse or a laboratory scientist cannot attend NMA meetings or register. So is the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and other unions. A union for only Nigerian musicians is needed, urgently too.”

    Louis, who started music by playing in school with Chris Okotie as a drummer recalled that “in 1960, the Nigerian Union of Musicians (NUM) stopped the Federal Government from engaging a Jamaican musician to perform at the Independence Day celebration.

    “The Jamaican had a hit “Melody d amour” that shook the entertainment world then and our ‘leaders’ taught it wise to bring him to Nigeria. It was quickly overtaken by events, and our very own Victor Olaiya performed at the ceremony.”

    He said PMAN today has Sound Engineers, Graphics Artists, Event Managers, Marketers but they are all lumped together in an association of strange bed fellows.

    “A musician’s union is a union of musicians. A dictionary definition of a musician is a man/woman who plays a musical instrument and pays his/her bills from his/her musical activities.”

    He noted that miming, rather than live music is the order of the day, averring that a musician must learn the rudiments of music.

    “As we cannot reinvent the wheel, any other definition of a musician is null and void. This lack of a musicians union has eaten so much into the fabric of musical entertainment in Nigeria, that miming (pretending to sing), is now the order of the day. The multi-nationals who should know better now get a DJ to play CDS while “musicians” pretend to sing.

    “This leaves millions of musicians unemployed. Imagine a doctor pretending to treat his patients, a broadcaster pretending to read his news, a journalist pretending to write, or a driver pretending to drive.

    “Playing an instrument on its own has spiritual and healing characteristic (like David in the bible who ended up writing the longest book in the bible, Psalms).

    “The enthronement of mediocrity in our society today is due to lack of determination to excel. A musician must learn the rudiments of music. The major scale, minor scale, diminished, etc. Where would Nigerian music have been without Rex Lawson, Fela kuti, Osita Osadebe, Victor Olaiya, IK Dairo, Bobby Benson, Dan Maraya Jos, Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, Victor Uwaifo, Beckley Jones of BLO, Tee Mac (Afro Collection) Segun Bucknor, Oriental Brothers, Wrinkers Experience, One World, The Strangers, The Wings, The Hykers, Bongos Ikwue, and Sunny Okosun?”

    Louis recalled that back in the day, EMI Records (located on Wharf Road, Apapa), immediately after signing contracts with artists, gave them a Ford bus with a full set of instruments after which a tour commences immediately to promote the single released. Hence, hits like ‘Fuel for Love’ have stood the test of time.

    “I met Danny Lan when I went with my band to Ihiala. He jammed ‘Fuel for Love’ with us, playing the guitar solo exactly the way he played on the record.

    “A record company in England, Honest Jons, recently re-released my song ‘Move/hot love’ I recorded in Afrodisia over thirty years ago. Willie Nfor played Bass Guitar, (Willi arranged “Awilo”). An advanced fee of a thousand dollars was paid. Tony Grey too was re-released on this label.

    “A collection of these songs among others (monafinni, turego, etc) is currently playing on Voice of America (VOA). A rebirth of Nigerian Union of Musicians is inevitable and long overdue. Just the way Jimi Hendrix Guitar solos inspired American astronauts, Nigerian musicians (not DJ/Artists) must inspire our youths,” he said.

  • Union rejects Rail’s planned concessioning

    The Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NURW) has rejected the planned concessioning of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to safeguard selling public assets without appropriate technical valuation and labour disengagement.

    Its Secretary-General, Mr Segun Esan, who disclosed this to reporters in Lagos, noted that concessioning had reinforced underdevelopment, and encouraged massive unemployment with corruption.

    He said the system threatened the country’s security and existence. According to him, the system and the policy of concessioning had been consistently observed, and that assets of privatised enterprises had been deliberately undervalued.

    He described the policy as an abuse of due process, characterised by corruption, which has affected the outcome of the exercise, adding that the Bureau of Public Entreprise (BPE) has failed to exercise its oversight functions on the privatisation process.

    The House of Representatives had, at its plenary, moved to investigate the planned concessioning of the Nigerian Railways Corporation to General Electric, to avoid violating Nigeria’s privatisation law.

    The Federal Government constituted a 20-member committee on the concessioning of the Eastern and Western Lines of the Railways.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo inaugurated the committee headed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, at the Presidential Villa in August.

  • Union canvasses input to NLNG Act, others

    Union canvasses input to NLNG Act, others

    Oil workers have called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to ensure that stakeholders in the oil and gas industry are engaged in the  implementation of the new Joint Venture (JV) Cash Calls, passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIB) and  amendment of the Nigeria LNG (NLNG) Act.

    The workers, under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), made the call after their National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja. In a communiqué issued after the NEC meeting, the senior staff trade union commended the Federal Government’s efforts at exiting the JV Cash Calls that led to its indebtedness to the International Oil Companies (IOCs) and the attendant challenges associated with the system.

    The communiqué read in part: “The NEC-in-Session appreciates the Federal Government efforts in the payment of arrears of Joint Venture Cash Calls, particularly the establishment of a roadmap to clear outstanding Cash Calls arrears.

    “The NEC-in-Session reiterates the need for the Federal Government to engage the labour unions in the implementation of the proposed new Joint Venture Cash Calls structure which is scheduled to commence in January, 2017.”

    Expressing its observation on a recent attempt to amend the NLNG Act (Fiscal, Guarantees, Assurances and Incentives) by the House of Representatives, PENGASSAN said the consequences of the proposed amendment, which among several things, will impinge on the continued existence of the nation’s most productive public corporation.

    It also noted that the proposed amendment will discourage inflow of foreign investment, lead to loss of $25 billion investment, loss of 18,000 potential jobs, reverse gains in gas flaring reduction and constrain NLNG’s development initiatives in the Niger Delta region.

    The association, therefore, advised the House of Representatives to seek wider stakeholders’ inputs before commencing the proposed amendment of the NLNG Act.

    While commending the recent efforts by the National Assembly to start the speedy passage of the PIB, the PENGASSAN noted that the delay in passage of the bill has been a disincentive to investments in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry.

    The trade union, particularly, commended the thoughtfulness of the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum for facilitating the public hearing held between December 7 and 9; but demanded that an all-inclusive industry Stakeholders’  Summit be convened to ensure that various stakeholders’ input, especially NUPENG and PENGASSAN positions with regards to labour matters are adequately represented in the bill.

  • Union defends leader on retirement

    The Nigeria Civil Service Union has said its National President, Comrade Kiri Mohammed, is still in the service of Jigawa State Government. It debunked claims that he has been  retired  describing the allegation as baseless and unfounded.

    Acting General Secretary of the union, Comrade Felix C. Ifoh, said in a statement that the alleged retirement of Comrade Mohammed, who is also the Deputy National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, was laid to rest in January when the Jigawa State Head of Service dispelled the rumour.

    Comrade Ifoh said the union has no vacancy in the office of the President, as the union’s ‘National Executive Council (NEC), at its meeting in October, 2015, ordered all the serving National Administrative Council (NAC), State/Federal Administrative Council members to serve out their tenures till October, 2017 for the National Delegates Conference (NDC) of the union.

    According to Ifoh, the decision was also ratified by the Special Delegates Conference (SDC) of the union held in Kaduna in March 2016.

    He added that the Jigawa State Head of Civil Service had disowned the purported letter, saying it was forged.

    According to him, the forged letter with reference No AP/631/EST/21/ VOL.2, dated 26/10/2015 and signed by one Abdullahi Musa, for Director of Establishment, was addressed to the General Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress.

    He further said that while those who alleged that Comrade Mohammed had retired from service claimed that the NLC wrote a letter to the Jigawa State Civil Service seeking clarification, the NLC has denied writing any letter seeking clarification on the matter as there was no controversy over Mohammed’s employment status in the Congress.

    Ifoh said that the denial by the Congress was contained in a letter dated January 25, addressed to the Office of the Head Service, Jigawa State, and was signed by the General Secretary of the Congress, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson.