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Tag: workers

  • New minimum wage will address poverty challenge in Nigeria – FG

    New minimum wage will address poverty challenge in Nigeria – FG

    The Federal Government on Thursday assured workers that it was working towards ensuring a new national minimum wage that will address issue of social imbalance, inequality and the wide gap of poverty.

    Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha gave the assurance at an award dinner to end the 40th anniversary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja.

    The late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, late Pa Micheal Imoudu, late Olaitan Oyelunde, late Chima Ubani, late Prof. Festus Iyayi as well as the congress’ past presidents and general secretaries and a host of others were honoured and inducted into Labour Hall of Fame for their contributions to the labour movement.

    Mustapha said the welfare of workers was top on the priority list of the Buhari administration, adding that because of the importance the government attached to the issue, it was making a lot of efforts to resuscitate the economy.

    He said: “The importance of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the affairs of any government cannot be overlooked. It is the soul of the government because without the workers, be they civil servants, private sector workers or even pensioners, there will be nobody to man the system.

    “That is why this administration takes the welfare of the Nigerian worker as priority by putting so much effort into the resuscitation of the economy. I must underscore the fact that the primary objective of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan is to diversity the economy, grow skills, create wealth, gain infrastructure, ensure food security and provide jobs.”

    Mustapha added: “The Federal Government is conscious of the need to bring wages to meet economic realities. It is in this regard that the tripartite minimum wage committee was inaugurated to review the national minimum wage. The committee is determined to complete its assignment before the end of this year and I am confident that the outcome of their assignment would address the issue of social imbalance, inequality and the wide gap of poverty in the country.”

    He congratulated the NLC leadership for deeming it proper to reward past services through recognitions.

    “I congratulate the awardees and say that your recognition tonight is a challenge to all of us to continue to contribute our best to the service of our nation,” the SGF said.

    NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the dinner was organised to honour those who have contributed to the growth of the Labour movement in the country, some of who paid the supreme price and others who spent several months in detention during the military era to strengthen the labour movement.

    He said with the high level of discussion during the anniversary, it was evident that the future would be bright for workers.

    He called for cooperation of Nigerians in the struggle to make the country a better place.

    Wabba said: “As enumerated during the three-day brainstorming event, and from the volume of discourse, it is very clear that the future will be bright because we have assembled the best from among our rank and file…

    “I am certain and all of us are convinced that from the issues that were discoursed, we have reasons to look into the future and build NLC of our dreams.”

  • Pay us our salaries, we are dying – Kogi workers tell Gov Bello

    Workers in Kogi State have appealed to Governor Yahaya Bello to clear their backlog of their salaries before death kills them all.

    The appeal was made on behalf of the workers by the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in the state, Onu Edoka, spoke on Friday at an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the union in the country.

    Recall that workers in Kogi were paid 60 per cent of five months’ salary arrears last December and had yet to be paid January salaries.

    Edoka, in a keynote address said, “Your Excellency, workers said I should ask you where our salaries are. As obedient servants, we are dying. As people who have contributed their quota in the development of the state and have left service, we are dying.

    “To this end, we wish to compassionately appeal to you. We are aware that allocation came to Kogi State last month and by the statement of the Commissioner for Finance, what came as allocation to the state was put at N4.3bn while local governments got N3.8bn. But up until this moment, no salary has been paid in Kogi. Let our own not drop into River Niger again (sic).”

    Edoka equally used the forum to speak on the alleged premature retirement of some workers, proscription of labour unions and the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by medical doctors in the state.

    He said, “You will agree with me that appointment in this government has been upside down in the sense that junior workers are placed above seniors.

    “Medical doctors in Kogi have been on strike for over one month. Mothers, children are dying at home. For this obvious fact, we appeal to the state government to call our doctors to a meeting and bring this mater to an end.

    “Why the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have not joined the strike is because we have come to the realisation that strike may not be the solution to our problems any more. It is all about the person who is the chief executive and his state of mind on the development and welfare of workers.

    “The proscription of unions in Kogi is completely detrimental to the progress of democracy, unacceptable to the Nigeria Labour Congress and completely illegal, and we shall not stand by it.

    “We will speak for the voiceless and the same voice will still speak again. We shall resist it with the last drop of our blood to see that we will not be tamed in any form or turned beggars in our state.”

    In his response, Bello said that the ongoing fight against corruption across the country would achieve greater success if organised labour strengthened itself and worked with the government to fish out corrupt officials.

    Bello urged the NLC to fight for the welfare of Nigerian workers and play the role of whistle-blower to assist government in bringing corrupt officials to justice.

    The governor, who was represented at the occasion by his deputy, Simon Achuba, congratulated labour on its 40th anniversary and enjoined its leadership to always stand for what is good for workers and the country.

  • Workers protest as suspended NHIS Executive Secretary resumes

    There was protest at the headquarters of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as the newly reinstated Executive Secretary, Prof. Yusuf Usman resumed work on Thursday.

    The workers under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and the Joint Health Sector Union during protest demanded that Yusuf’s reinstatement be reversed while investigations on allegations levelled against him continue.

    According to the workers, the reinstatement of Yusuf would impede his investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

    The protest began shortly after Yusuf resumed at the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.

    Confirming the Executive Secretary’s resumption, Head, Media and Public Relations of NHIS, Ayo Osinlu said: “He has resumed work but has not held any management meeting.”

    Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday reinstated Yusuf exactly six months after he was suspended by the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, following allegations of gross misconduct.

    Yusuf, 54, took over the state-run health insurance provider on July 29, 2016.

    But his reign at the agency has been fraught with graft controversies.

    Some staff described Yusuf’s leadership as causing disaffection and low morale in the system.

    The chairman, association of senior civil servant NHIS chapter, Razaq Omomeji accused Executive Secretary of bringing someone born in 1984 to become an assistant director in the scheme.

    Omomeji said Yusuf, a professor has poor knowledge on the management of the scheme.

    Alowuyi Kayode, Chairman Medical and Health Association Union, also accused Yusuf of using divide and rule system to transfer staff indiscriminately.

    “We believe that this government came to fight corruption. We also believe that whoever must come to equity must come with clean hands. Prof Yusuf’s reinstatement behoves much to be desired. Presently he is being investigated by the EFCC and ICPC, so we are appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to wait for the report of this investigation to be concluded before any further action,” Kayode said.

    “If the man is giving a clean slate then he can return but as is it now, all his activities for the past one year has been that of ethnicity, tribalism, religiosity and nepotism. Imaging him transferring over 40 per cent of the staff outside Abuja and replacing them with 300 NYSC members. It leaves much to be desired, so we are appealing to this government as a union of NHIS to reverse this recall while investigation with EFCC and ICPC continues,” he added.

    There has been a rash of reactions from Nigerians since the news of Yusuf’s reinstatement broke.

    On Wednesday, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, explained that Yusuf’s recall will not stop any corruption investigation by anti-graft agencies.

    Though the presidency has not spoken official on the basis for his reinstatement, a source at the Presidential Villa said the suspended executive secretary was reinstated because the president believes the allegations against him are yet to be proven.

    The source said the committee constituted by the minister to investigate Mr. Yusuf was neither independent nor free from bias.

    “Barely one year into his assumption of office, Professor Usman was suspended by the Minister of health on the strength of a petition by the United Youth Alliance Against Corruption, UYAC and Association of Senior Civil Servants.

    “The Minister, relying on the petition, constituted a 17-man committee under the headship of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry to look into the petition by this body of Civil servants. Out of the 17 members of the committee, 16 of them were staff of the Ministry while one member was from the Department of State Services (DSS). The request for a nomination from the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) was declined because they feared a conflict of interest.

    “From the composition of the committee, it was obvious that the committee was neither independent nor free from biases.

    “Some of the allegations brought against the Executive Secretary by the UYAC could not be substantiated in 20 of the 23 allegations as no evidence was brought forward. “Others were obviously concocted as there were evident alterations and mix-ups in dates on some of the petitions,” the source said.

    He said it is clear from the investigation that the presidency identified an acute lack of capacity in the NHIS as an organisation and unless a new set of competent managers are found and recruited, the objectives of setting up of the NHIS may remain a mirage.

    “This is why the minister was directed to work with the Executive Secretary to redress some of the identified shortcomings within the organisations to avoid a breakdown of one of the federal government’s flagship programmes and truncate the intention of government to expand the scope of beneficiaries of health insurance scheme and indeed broaden government’s efforts in repositioning the health sector.”

     

  • Melaye condemns sack of Kogi workers, says it is ‘illegal, unacceptable’

    …Urges affected civil servants to seek redress in court

    Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye on Tuesday condemned the state government’s recent sack of some civil servants in the state.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Kogi State Government on Sunday confirmed the compulsory retirement of eight permanent secretaries, some directors and dismissal of 1, 774 others from the state civil service.

    However, Melaye, one of the three senators from the state who is known for his open disagreements with Governor Yahaya Bello in a swift reaction condemned the mass sack insisting it was anti-people.

    Melaye stated this in a statement he personally signed and forwarded to TheNewsGuru.com for publication.

    The outspoken senator, however, urged the affected civil servants to seek redress from a competent law court.

    The statement reads in full:

    The indiscriminate sacking of workers has now become a pastime for Yahaya Bello in Kogi State – a state that has been turned to a Civil Service State owing to the dearth of ideas to turnaround the fortunes of the state for development, productivity and sustainability.

    The latest of Yahaya Bello’s unnecessary war against the civil servants in Kogi State was delivered in a garb of a report by a Staff Screening, Validation and Appeal Committee, which recommended outright dismissal and prosecution of 1,667 workers cutting across ministries, departments and agencies of the state government (MDAs) on the spurious allegation of certificate forgery.

    On Monday, January 8 and Tuesday, January 9, a national daily carried a two-part paid advertorial containing the names of the indicted civil servants and in the words of the committee, they were “indicted for breaching Public Service Rules as a result of falsification of academic records.”

    According to the advertorials sponsored by the state government in this hard times, the committee did not avail the public or Kogites of its methodology of coming to the judgment of falsification against the academic certificates of the said workers.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the committee has no power to declare any worker’s academic result(s) fake except a competent court of law. This goes without saying the embarrassment caused the workers, their families and friends, particularly the elderly victims of Yahaya Bello’s charade, who had served the state for decades and rose to the enviable position of a Permanent Secretary.

    This kind of inhuman government has no place in our society and her actions cannot go unchallenged. Consequently, I sympathise with the affected workers and their families while I implore them to go to court immediately to seek redress and clear their names of forgery allegation leveled against by an anti-people government of Kogi.

    For the records, Yahaya Bello claims he obtained a whopping N10 billion Loan to offset salary arrears. This is a lie and it can be easily detected to be so because there was no approval to that effect by the State House of Assembly on one hand and on the other hand the outstanding 15-month salary due to the civil servants in the state as at today puts a lie to the governor’s claim.

    If the immediate past Governor Idris Wada of Kogi can be spending a little over N3 billion as monthly salary of workers during his time and without sacking anybody, how come Yahaya Bello, who had sacked over 3,000 workers since inception, cannot pay staff salaries today?

    It is clear to me that Yahaya Bello is only trying to reduce Kogi State’s monthly salary bill by victimising innocent civil workers in order for him to have more money for frivolities as we are witnessing in the state of recent.

    Therefore, in order to put an end to Yahaya Bello’s unending lies, I challenge him to publish the names of workers paid their full salaries for the month of December 2017 and the names of banks used in the payment. I also challenge him to a public debate on the state of affairs of our dear Kogi State.

     

  • Paris Club Refund: Dickson releases N5.6bn to clear workers’ salaries

    Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State on Friday ordered the release of N5.6billion out of N14.8billion Paris Club Refund he received in December last year for the payment of one- and- half month salary arrears owed workers during the economic recession of 2016.

    It was gathered that the governor called a meeting of top government officials, labour leaders and their representatives in Yenagoa where a decision was taken to pay one- and -half month workers’ salaries.

    A statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the state government received N14.8billion from the Federal Government.

    The breakdown showed the state received N13.5billion while the local government councils received N1.37billion

    Dickson said the outstanding arrears were a balance of half salaries he paid for seven months during the recession in 2016.

    The governor thanked the workers for displaying understanding during the period of the recession.

    He lamented that while most of the older states in the country had lower wage bills, Bayelsa wage bill was over N6billion because of the “criminal activities of some fraudulent characters.”

  • LAUTECH Teaching Hospital management sacks 255 workers

    LAUTECH Teaching Hospital management sacks 255 workers

    No fewer than two hundred and fifty-five (255) workers of Ladoka Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital have been sacked by the management of the institution.

    ‎An internal memorandum signed by one A.M Ajiferuke, dated 27th December, 2017, a copy obtained by TheNewsGuru.com on Thursday morning, confirmed the disengagement of workers of the teaching hospital jointly owned by Oyo and Osun States.

    The list also revealed that 299 other workers of the hospital are to be redeployed to the state service, bringing the total of affected workers to 554.

    The internal memo reads, “Kindly find below the list of disengaged staff as directed by the Oyo State Government and approved by the board at her meeting held on Thursday, 21st December, 2017.”

    The axes may also dangle on workers of LAUTECH as the owner-states begin the process of ‘weeding’.

    An internal source who begged not to be named said: “The headcount was unable to commence yesterday due to flight delay. The team couldn’t fly from Lagos to Ibadan due to unfavourable weather condition”.

  • JUST IN: Osun workers commence strike over half salary payment

    Workers in Osun State on Wednesday commenced an indefinite strike over the payment of half salaries by the Rauf Aregbesola led government.

    Labour leaders led by the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Osun State, Mr. Jacob Adekomi, on led other unions’ leaders to the State Secretariat at Abere to shut down the place as workers commenced the indefinite strike action.

    Labour leaders had on Friday announced that they would begin an indefinite strike immediately after the Christmas break over modulated salary, lack of promotion and the non-remittance of their contributory pension deductions to workers’ pension accounts.

    The NLC chairman, the chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Amudah Wakeel and other Labour leaders stormed the secretariat gate as early as 7am on Wednesday to ensure compliance with the directive from the labour leaders.

    The NUT chairman, who spoke to our correspondent said workers from grade level 01 to 07 who were collecting full salary joined the strike because the strike was not based on the issue of half salary alone.

    He expressed satisfaction with the level of compliance to the strike directive which he described as a total one.

    He said, “We are on strike in Osun. We are here at the State Government Secretariat, Abere to ensure a total compliance to the strike directive.

    “As you can see, no worker came to resume work today because they are our members and the labour directed that they should stay at home.

    “The labour is indivisible, that is why those who are collecting full salaries also complied. The strike is not even about half salary alone. The issue of promotion is there, pension is there and are you saying those from level 1 to 7 will not retire in the future?

    “The compliance is total and we are happy about it. Nobody can divide us. The labour is one indivisible family whether you are on level one, 13 or any level.”

    The workers had during their last meeting with Governor Rauf Aregbesola insisted that the state had the financial ability to pay them full salaries. They said most of them had been collecting half salaries since September 2015 and the governor still didn’t want to change this even after collecting N6.3 billion third tranche of the Paris Club refund.

    But the governor had said while addressing workers during the Civil Service Week that 72 per cent of the state workforce were collecting full salaries while just 28 per cent were being paid modulated salaries.

    He lauded them for their perseverance and promised that the season of famine would end by March 2018.

  • Yuletide: Okorocha orders ‘Happiness Ministry’ to pay Nov, Dec workers’ salaries

    Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has directed the immediate payment of November and December salaries of civil servants in the state.

    A statement issued on Wednesday by the state Commissioner for Information, Nnamdi Obiaraeri, said the motive was to ensure that all employees of the state government had seamless Christmas.”

    The statement read, “This is to announce that the Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has approved the immediate payment of the November and December 2017 salaries of Imo workers.

    “This is to enable our esteemed Imo workers to celebrate seamless Christmas. Payments have duly commenced.

    “Any worker encountering any difficulties with the approved payments should not hesitate to contact the Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment for immediate intervention.”

  • Bello sent thugs, stopped me from donating 1260 bags of rice to civil servants – Melaye

    Senator Dino Melaye (APC-Kogi West) has accused Governor Yahaya Bello of sending thugs to stop him from sharing the bags of rice and other relief materials donated to civil servants in the state.

    The bags of rice, numbering 1260, were donated by some senators to aid civil servants in Kogi state who have reportedly not being paid for 22 months.

    In a series of tweets on Friday, Melaye said: ”GYB has mobilized his thugs backed by his paid policemen to barricade the entry to Lokoja from Abuja with the intention of attacking Sen Dino Melaye and the rice meant for the suffering kogi civil servants.

    ”10 million was then released to thugs to stop the rice from coming into lokoja and to also disparage SDM.

    ”Hahahaha Double wahala for dead body and the owner of dead body. Olodo governor.”

  • Jos Disco disengages 150 workers

    Jos Disco disengages 150 workers

    The Jos Electricity Distribution Company, JEDC has sacked 150 workers, in what its management said was part of a re-organisation aimed at optimum performance.

    Among those sacked across its four states of Plateau, Gombe, Bauchi and Benue were marketers, linesmen, network engineers, cable joiners and electrical fitters.

    Their sack letters, signed by Abubakar Mohammed, Head, Human Resources and Support Services, simply told the workers that their services were no longer required.

    The letters said that they would be paid one month’s salary in lieu of notice, and warned them against impersonating as workers of the company.

    Some of the workers, however, accused the JEDC management refusing to settle their entitlements before sacking them and also alleged that they were paid half salary in September.

    They also rejected management’s claims that those sacked were old and unproductive, arguing that most of them were young persons engaged “a few years ago”.

    Alhaji Gidado Modibbo, JEDC Managing Director, who reacted to the allegations, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Jos that the “weeding exercise” was aimed at ridding the company of “dead woods”.

    “We assess workers based on performance. Those sacked fell short of minimum expectations. Some were too old for the jobs they were handling.

    “We even had Faults Men that were more than 60 years and blind. We had to ask them to go because they could not climb electric poles and were not adding any value to us,” he said.

    He also rejected claims that the workers were paid half salaries in September, and explained that they received 70 percent of their wages because management had set a target and resolved to base salaries on it.

    Dr Friday Elijah, JEDC Director of Communications, who also reacted, said that the main parameter used for the sack was performance.

    “The performance of the workers have been generally very poor and management had always told them to sit up.

    “Last month, for instance, we distributed N4 billion worth of energy but realised only N950 million. It means that many workers are not productive, hence our resolve to ask them to go.”

    He said that some workers were sacked for extorting monies from consumers, while others collected money from customers but did not remit same to the company.

    Elijah said that some workers were told old and could no longer add any value to the company, while others, who were inherited from the former owners, had served for close to 40 years.

    The official, however, said that the company had engaged more workers than it had sacked since it took over JEDC in November 2013, “in spite of new technology that has minimised the need for manual activities”.

     

    NAN