The Nation Newspaper

Tag: workers

  • Worthy of his hire

    WORKERS in the country are an endangered specie. They work themselves to the bones only for a few people to reap from their sweat. They work like elephants but eat like ants. The lot of the worker is nothing to write home about. Virtually all employers treat workers with disdain. They pay them peanuts and in most cases, this pay is delayed. Where it is not delayed, the workers are owed for months. At times, the salary arrears may be in years.

    Though they work for the good of their organisations, workers do not know good times. Things are always tough for them. They anxiously look forward to  the end of the month, but when it comes, there is nothing to take home. The take home pay, which cannot take them home, is simply not there for their collection, yet it is month end. Workers are  the butt of jokes at home and in many other circles. People look at them and take pity on them –  a hardworking man, which has been rendered redundant by the system.

    The system is not helping matters; it is also guilty of the offence that it should do something about. In the past, it was unheard of for government to owe workers. This was why many scrambled for job in the civil service. They knew that once they are employed, their future is guaranteed. No matter what, they are assured of their salary and promptly too. And they had job security. Again, chances of rising to the top were also there. We have heard of messengers rising to the directorate cadre and even becoming permanent secretary after obtaining the requisite qualification. That was the beauty then of working in the civil service.

    Painfully, this beauty has been replaced with ashes. Today, some workers are cursing the day they joined the civil service. They are wondering whether it is the same service they joined years ago where they were paid promptly and had all the facilities to discharge their duty. In their subconscious minds, they compare what things were then with what they are now. They yearn for the good old days; but will the old order return? The emerging new order of owing workers’ salary should not be encouraged at all because of its inherent dangers.

    As the citadel of bureaucracy, the civil service should be employer of example. It should be the compass for other employers to find their way. But if it owes salary as is the case in some states today, it will have no moral justification to talk if those in the private and other sectors do not pay their workers as when due. Or maltreat their workers as some Chinese, Lebanese and Indian firms do. These employers can so behave because those who should call them to order are no better. Can a governor who has failed in his obligations to civil servants summon an Indian or Chinese or a Lebanese firm’s chief executive for maltreating his Nigerian worker? The answer is no.

    These Indian, Lebanese and Chinese firms are killing our compatriots in installment and the government does not give a care in the world. The workers are mostly categorised as casual – that is they are not permanent staff with rights and privileges. They are only entitled to their meagre salary. The salary cannot meet their own personal expenses not to talk of taking care of family needs. To keep these workers permanently under, these firms put some Nigerians in top positions to do the dirty job of defending the indefensible for them. Whenever things go wrong as they often do in these companies, these Nigerian executives are the ones to clear the mess.

    They do the job without shame. Where the company is at fault, they blame it on the workers, describing them as a bunch of illiterates who ran into problem because they could not interpret simple instructions. To them, their companies are always right even when they are wrong. So, when a worker is electrocuted, he is at fault; when a machine severs his limb, he is to blame; when a heavy object falls on his head and he dies, he is careless and when there is a fire and he suffers first degree burns, he was not vigilant enough. This is the sad story of the worker, who toils, but gets no just reward. He toils for his bosses to be better off.

    Can we blame these foreigners for taking us for granted in our own country, where they are making a killing? But all this wealth does not reflect in their workers’ lives. What is galling is that they dare not do the things they do here in their home countries. They fear the laws of their countries and their leaders. Over there, workers are treated as kings. So, why can’t they replicate that here? They will only start doing that if our leaders change their way by treating workers with respect. You respect a worker when you pay his salary promptly; you respect a worker when you provide a conducive working environment for him. A worker should not only be good enough to bake the cake, he should also be good enough to eat in the cake.

    Thank God that President Muhammadu Buhari has come to the aid of states owing salaries with a N713 million bailout. This portrays him as a caring father. The president does not want the workers, who are his children to suffer through no fault of theirs. The money has come as a respite for the states. We only hope that they will use it strictly for paying workers’ salaries. As the labour movement said on Tuesday ‘’…Mr President should please prevail on the governors to ensure that when they get the money they should not blow it on other things’’.

    To do that will show the governors for who they truly are – callous, inhuman and without feeling for the suffering of others. And they should start thinking of how to generate funds to pay their workers without fail because it is not every time they are in crisis that they will run to the president for a bailout.

  • Workers to governors: don’t blow N713b bailout cash

    Workers to governors: don’t blow N713b bailout cash

    NLC, TUC, others hail Buhari

    APC, PDP clash

    WORKERS were yesterday in high spirits over President Muhammadu Buhari’s N713.7 billion bailout for states to pay outstanding salaries.

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC),hailed the president’s action.

    The NLC urged Buhari to ensure that the governors spend the money on salary arrears.

    It warned against “a situation that the governors that could not manage their allocation properly will be rewarded by being given special recognition”.

    The General Secretary of the Congress, Dr. Peter Ozon-Eson, said: “Our appeal is that Mr. President should please prevail on the governors to ensure that when they get these sharing they should not again blow it on other things. The first priority must be defraying the arrears of salaries and pensions of pensioners who have not been paid for 11 to 12 months. ”

    Ozon-Esson, who is also the NLC chief economist, said the congress was happy about the Federal Government’s intervention, recalling that the congress presented the debt profile to the Presidential Transition Committee.

    In the three-pronged bailout plan is the N413.7billion special intervention fund, the N413.7b ($2.1b) Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) proceeds and a N300b Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention loan.

    Federal workers who are being owed are also to benefit from the plan.

    But labour officials warned the state governments against misapplying the cash.

    Deputy President of the factional NLC Comrade Isah Aremu said: “President Buhari has been very vocal since he assumed office in making a case for workers to be paid as at when due.

    “President Buhari once said that it is a disgrace that Nigerian states could not pay salaries. So, what he has done now is that he has commendably walked his talk. He has also shown that if there is a will, there will always be a way.

    “Now, the defaulting governors must learn from the President’s approach – that you don’t have any excuse not to pay workers’ salaries. He has shown that no reason can justify why workers are not paid.

    “The governors must also prioritise their needs henceforth in a way that workers are given priority and not rely on the President to give them bailout from the Federation Account”.

    Aremu said labour was happy that Buhari already living up to his mandate, adding that what is important now is for it to be sustained.

    He called on the Federal and state legislatures to rise up to the challenge of making good laws and exercising their oversight functions creditably.

    The National Union of Pensioners (NUP) urged the Federal Government to include state pensioners as beneficiaries of the bailout.

    The General Secretary, Elder Actor Zal, said:”While we commend the historic effort of the Federal Government, it is equally instructive that we demand the bailout to include the payment of pension arrears in all the states of the federation.”

    According to him, pensioners are owed arrears of pensions and gratuities for many months in many states.

    Zal urged Mr. President to instruct the governors to use this fund judiciously and ensure that all pensions’ arrears are settled without further delay.

    He went on: “Consequently, we appeal to the Federal Government to do same to all pensioners in the country who are being owed backlog arrears of their pensions. Especially, the 42 months arrears of the 33% pension increase, gratuities and death benefits of federal pensioners across the country.

    “ The Federal Government should release the N218 billion needed by Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to clear all those backlog of unpaid pension at once.”

    Kogi State NLC Chairman Comrade Onuh Edoka praised the initiative and expressed the hope that the state governments would not misapply the fund.

    He said other entitlements being owed the workers over the years should be paid.

    “When we are talking about salary indebtedness other entitlements of the workers, such as leave bonus, which is an equivalent of one month salary, and arrears of promotion owed to workers, should be considered.

    “Those are all indebtedness to workers in the case of the fund for bailout, which is coming and which the state governments are supposed to consider.

    “In essence, Kogi is owing more than one month salary, considering the other entitlements that are supposed to go to workers.

    “First and foremost, the organised labour in Kogi are indeed grateful for the bailout. And we promise to put up a committee, which will be led by the NLC in Kogi State to liaise or facilitate that the indebtedness to Kogi workers are paid, and we are equally appealing to the state government to judiciously utilise the fund for what it is meant for, or any attempt to divert to any other purpose will lead to industrial crisis in Kogi State.

    “However, we have no doubt in the ability of the governor as a God-fearing governor, that he will use the money for the purpose meant for, as to sustain the industrial peace in the state before now.”

    The Kwara State chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) also hailed the plan. The Chairman of TUC in the state, Comrade Olumoh Kolawole thanked the president for coming to the rescue of the governors. He was optimistic that the state governments will use the funds judiciously.

    “I believe and hope that all the state governments, including Kwara State that is owing workers two months salaries, will use the monies as expected,” Kolawole added.

    The Ondo State Chairman of the NLC, Mrs Bosede Daramola, described the step as “a welcome development” which has brought relief to workers in the public sector.

    Mrs Daramola urged the affected governors to pay their “pauperised workers” as a matter of urgency, especially those in need of medication.

    The NLC chair warned the governors not to divert the money on projects.

    She called for the payment of salaries, allowances and other entitlements to workers and pensioners.

    The leader of the Trade Union Congress in Osun State, Comrade Akinyemi Olatunji, urged the government to spend the money to offset the workers’ salary arrears.

    According to him, the cash is for workers’ salaries.

    Olatunji advised the state government to look inwards and design a strategy to increase its internally generated revenue‎ (IGR) to forestall salary delay, adding that the bail out is only a short term measure.

    He expressed gratitude to the President for coming to the rescue of states.

  • Recall sacked workers, TUC urges Wike

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, to recall the sacked 344 lecturers, and others employed at the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori, since September 2014 by the immediate past administration led by Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi.

    TUC said the priority of his leadership now should be good governance that would transform the state.

    The Congress in a statement by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and Secretary General, Comrade Musa Lawal, expressed shock and disappointment at the news of the sack, especially because of the grave consequences it portends for the affected workers, their dependants and the society at large.

    The labour centre noted that the governor’s actions could most likely be the fall-out of the political acrimony that traversed the period before and during the recent elections in the state, saying that all such considerations ought to have gone with that period. TUC advised the governor to make good governance a priority.

    According to the Congress, “Nigerians have become increasingly interested in public affairs and impatient for good governance because of years of unfulfilled promises by their leaders. They are much wiser now and can no longer be fooled and impoverished by a minute percentage of the populace.”

    TUC argued that many of the people whose appointments the governor terminated probably voted for him. “How will they explain to their friends, family members and associates that the man they so much believed in and voted for has relieved them of their jobs in spite of the fact that job creation and provision of infrastructure were among his campaign promises,” they queried.

    The congress called on government at all levels in the country to eschew politics of bitterness. It observed that government is a continuum, and any useful project embarked on by a preceding administration should not be done away with so as not to waste taxpayers’ money that has been expended on it.

  • ASSBIFI to govt: protect workers’ right

    ASSBIFI to govt: protect workers’ right

    The Association of Senior Staff of Bank and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has called on the Federal Government to protect the rights of workers.

    The association lamented that despite the existence of international labour standards relating to recruitment, national laws in the country, their enforcement often fall short of protecting workers’ rights.

    Its Deputy President, Comrade Olasanoye Oyinkan, who spoke  with reporters, lamented that public and private employment agencies in the country have been involved in one or more deception about the nature and conditions of work for workers

    She said: “We call on government at all levels, the federal, states and local governments to protect the rights of workers as they are the creation of wealth for the nation. Our call is necessary because when the public and private employment agencies are appropriately regulated, they would play an important role in the efficient and equitable functioning of labour markets by matching available jobs with suitably qualified workers.”

    According to Oyekan, in today’s globalised economy, workers are increasingly looking for job opportunities beyond their home country.

    On the recent picketing of Alpha Beta Limited over the sack of 300 workers, the labour leader deplored the action of the company in the face of economic hardship in the country.

    She, however, explained that before the company sacked the workers, they reported to the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, but before the meeting, Alpha-Beta had gone ahead to sack 300 workers.

  • How school retains workers, by principal

    How school retains workers, by principal

    •Plans book for 20th anniversary

    One challenge many private schools face is high staff turnover.  However, that is not a problem at Dansol High School, Agidingbi, Lagos, where elaborate preparations have started to mark the school’s 20th anniversary later this year.

    Some of the programmes outlined for the celebration include a dinner during which supporters of the school would be rewarded, including workers who have stayed with the school for a long time.

    In an interview, the principal, Mr Esan Oladapo, told The Nation that the school retains most of its workers because of favourable welfare policies instated by its proprietor, Mrs Adun Akinyemiju.

    “Staff turnover, in DANSOL is relatively low, because of the welfare packages that the management has provided for the workforce, junior, intermediate and senior cadres.  There are people here that will be getting award for 20 years of meritorious service during our 20th anniversary. We have free medical services for staffers, both local and internationally-sponsored trainings, regular payment of salaries, annual increase of salaries, whether the workers are due for promotion or not, so far as you have contributed meritoriously during any session under review.

    “The organisation is like a home away from home due to the close rapport existing between the workers and the management, vis-à-vis the founders.  We work like father, mother, brother, sister so there is this cordial bond that detaching from this place to leave to another place, becomes difficult,” he said.

    Oladapo has stayed with the school for 18 years – 10 of which have been spent as principal.

    The cordial workers-management relationship is paying off for the school as Oladapo said its pupils continue to excel in public examinations – recording almost 100 per cent pass in Mathematics, English and five other subjects.  He said the school is also doing well in competitions with other schools.  The latest of the laurels the school celebrated last month was winning the gold category award for being among the top 250 schools in Africa in 2015 coordinated by the African Brand Review, a publication that reviews the performance of schools.

    The school also won the best in chemistry award in a competition organised by Lagoon Secondary School, Lekki, and came third in the debate organised by Cayley College, Agidingbi.  Aishat Bello, Dansol’s representative in the National Secondary School Mathematics Competition (Junior Category), won the first stage prize for Lagos State and would represent the state in the second stage of the competition holding this month.

    But the school is not done yet, as Oladapo promised that efforts at being on the top would be a continuous process.

    He said: “Now we have more modern instructional materials compared to the last few years. Dansol classrooms are now being equipped with e-learning facilities.  We are doing it in stages, we just finished for the SS1 and 2.  Next session we will move to the next stage. In the past too, we had just text books, in the library, but now apart from the hard copies, we now have the e-library, thereby exposing our students to the world around them, right within the confines of the classroom.”

    Activities lined up for the 20th anniversary, which Oladapo said would kick off October 9 (when the school opened to pupils) and end October 24 (when it received formal approval from the Lagos State Ministry of Education), include: speech and prize giving day; inter-house sports competition, symposium, and the launch of a book, which would detail “all that is called Dansol from inception to date on January 24.

  • Lagos CJ assures workers of improved welfare

    Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice  Olufunmilayo Atilade, has said she is committed to improving the health status and welfare of workers in the judiciary in the state.

    The Chief judge gave this assurance last week while inaugurating a new staff restaurant at the Roseline Omotoso new court building at the old Secretariat, Ikeja GRA.

    She said the opening of the restaurant, also marked the opening of similar ones in Epe, Ogba, Ikorodu and Ajegunle courts.

    Justice Atilade said that the establishment of the restaurant was in line with the promises she made during her swearing in about a year ago that the welfare of judiciary workers would be paramount to her.

    According to her, the new eatery would provide workers with good food prepared under good hygienic conditions adding that the eatery would not only served judges but also lawyers and other judicial workers, especially those who might not be opportuned to have breakfast before coming to the courts.

    Justice Atilade said the caterer was  chosen to ensure that quality food were served compared to what is served at bukaterias said to be of low quality.

    In her remarks, Head of the Family Courts, Justice Yetunde Idowu who recalled that the Chief Judge recently inaugurated a restaurant in State High Court, Igbosere, said all the restaurants established by the state judiciary ranked among the best in town and assured workers that they would provide them with good edibles.

    Justice Idowu thanked the Chief Judge for her commitment to the improvement of staff health conditions and welfare.

    Other judges of the state High Court  on the occasion include Justices Lateef Lawal-Akapo, Olaide Olayinka, Omolara Kayode-Ogunmekan, Lateefat Folami, Sedoten Ogunsanya, Ganiyu Safari, the Chief Registrar, Emmanuel Ogundara and other principal officers of the judiciary.

  • Workers to EFCC: probe governors owing salary

    Workers to EFCC: probe governors owing salary

    The Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate former and serving governors for allegedly squandering resources.

    The union alleged that some of the governors used government money to finance campaigns during the elections, while the workforce was being owed salary for many months.

    The union, in a communiqué issued at the end of a one day meeting in Abuja, described as unfortunate a situation where some states and local governments  could not pay workers and other mandatory deductions for many months due to corruption.

    The union said it had become necessary for the anti graft agency to beam its searchlight into the activities of the affected governors.

    It alleged that some former and serving governors wasted the resources in paying for inflated contracts and other personal expenses including chartered flights, sponsoring of political campaigns, bogus security votes and payment of severance allowances.

  • State workers criticised for shunning NHIS

    State workers criticised for shunning NHIS

    National Health Insurance Scheme’s (NHIS) Acting Executive Secretary Mr. Olufemi Akinbade has decried non-participation of state civil servants in the scheme since its inception 15 years ago.

    Akinbade, who spoke yesterday in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, when he visited Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar in Government House, said in an effort to encourage state civil servants to join the programme, the NHIS opened its offices in all states.

    He said the scheme’s management made it mandatory that officials must visit governors, adding that Jigawa State was the first to be visited because of its commitment to healthcare delivery.

    The NHIS acting executive secretary noted that his delegation was in the state to discuss how to improve the scheme’s coverage to complement government’s efforts toward provision of basic healthcare service.

    Akinbade said the NHIS had already covered five of the seven higher institutions, adding that they want to expand the coverage to include the less-privileged and other vulnerable groups.

    The governor promised to partner the scheme to achieve the provision of accessible basic healthcare service to his people.

    The state government hoped the partnership would enhance its policy on addressing the high rate of child and maternal mortality in rural areas.

    Badaru said his government accorded the health sector a top priority, which, according to him, was the bedrock of production and economic development of any society.

    “People can only work and produce more when they are healthy. If people are sick, certainly the production would be low. So, in view of this, we are ever ready to partner with any collaborator, who indicates interest in assisting us to improve our healthcare service delivery.

    “We have provision for NHIS fund in our 2015 budget. The state team and NHIS team will sit down and study the agreement. But we would tell you what we want from you, as we know the peculiarities of our state better,” Badaru said.

  • Conditions worse under Fayose, say workers

    Conditions worse under Fayose, say workers

    Workers’ standard of living has gone worse under the administration of Governor Ayo Fayose, some public servants in Ekiti State have cried out.

    Acting under the aegis of the Enlightened Workers’ Forum (EWF), the workers slammed  labour unions for looking the other way when they are supposed to “fight” for workers.

    A statement yesterday by the EWF Coordinator, Mike Bamidele, urged the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Civil Service Union (NCSU) and the Joint Negotiating Council (JNC) to “wake up from their slumber” and stop being government‘s puppets.

    The group claimed that about 60 per cent of workers received April salaries from that month’s allocation.

    “What happened to the balance of April allocation and the allocation for May because Ekiti workers are expecting a detailed explanation on these?

    “This is how the plight of Ekiti workers continues to assume a rapid slide from bad to worse, with no one championing their cause.

    “It even became more worrisome when a couple of days ago, the governor said he only owed May salaries.

    “Labour did not see any need to contradict him but what becomes of last September salary, the arrears of pensions and the leave bonus?

    “The Forum believes there had been enough controversies over this matter and it is  time the governor realised that the onus of payment rests squarely on his shoulders because there is no way he could inherit assets alone while he continues to shun the liabilities.”

  • No retrenchment, VC assures workers of new education varsity

    No retrenchment, VC assures workers of new education varsity

    The Vice Chancellor of the newly established Federal University of Education, Zaria, Prof Ibrahim Kolo, has assured all members of staff of the institution which was recently upgraded from a college of education that they would not lose their jobs.

    Kolo, who gave this assurance during an interactive session with journalists in Minna at the weekend, said the workers were apprehensive over their fate following the elevation of the institution.

    He said, he had to assure them when he met with leaders of the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) of the institution that no worker would lose his or her job. Instead, he said the elevation will create a window for some of them to undergo further training.

    Kolo, who was the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Niger State-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, said: “I cashed on the maiden meeting with the academic staff that nobody will be retrenched, rather the development will open further windows of opportunities for staff career enhancement and development.”

    He however said a comprehensive staff appraisal would be carried out in order to ensure that workers are appropriately placed, emphasising that those that have the need for higher qualification would be encouraged.

    “All staff would be appraised with a view to a fair and appropriate placement in the Graduate Specialised Teacher Education Programmes immediately to be developed for the university, while others who cannot fit in immediately will be offered the opportunity and support to either go for relevant higher degrees or be placed in other Teacher Education Training compartments to emerge either in the form of the re-designation of the existing NCE Basic Education Programme or appropriate Teacher Professional Development Programmes also to be put in place,” he said.

    Kolo then appealed to the workers to cooperate with him and urged them to suggest how best to take the new institution to a lofty height.

    Federal College of Education, Zaria, was one of the four colleges elevated to universities of education by the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Others are: Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Federal College of Education, Kano, and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri.