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Tag: workers

  • Obasanjo Presidential Library sacks workers, gives reasons

    Obasanjo Presidential Library sacks workers, gives reasons

    Some staff of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State have been laid off by the management of the library.

    The reputable international library is sponsored by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Its Head of Human Resources, Administration and Procurement, Olanike Ogunleye, in a letter circulated to affected staff said the development was due to the overwhelming adverse impacts of coronavirus on the organisation.

    The organisation added the COVID-19 crisis has made its impossible to sustain its workforce.

    The letter reads in part: “As you are aware, the current COVID-19 pandemic has had a toll on all our business significantly.

    “This has resulted to making some difficult business decisions. Due to this situation, we regret to inform you that your employment will be put on hold till further notice.

    “You are to hand over all company properties in your possession to the human resource department, who shall do a confirmation of the exit clearance process before your final entitlements (if any) would be paid.”

    It was gathered the letter dated May 25 was handed over to affected workers on Friday.

  • Two Ekiti Poly workers electrocuted to death while fixing faulty borehole on campus

    Tragedy struck at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti on Tuesday when two workers of the institution were electrocuted while working on defective borehole on campus.

    Eyewitnesses told journalists in Ado Ekiti the victims were staff of the Department of Works and were said to have died while carrying out statutory function.

    One of the deceased, whose identities have not been made known, was a native of Ado Ekiti while the other victim hailed from Kogi State.

    The source narrated the victims while working on the borehole had made attempts to remove the galvanised pipe for repair when they made the mistake and died on the spot.

    It was gathered “as they were removing the pipe, they didn’t know that it has gone up to the extent that it could touch a high tension wire around the area.

    “Immediately the pipe touched the high tension wire, there was a huge spark that caused electrocution of the two men.

    “Their bodies were charred by the effect of the electrocution while other supportive workers were flung to far distance but they neither died nor sustained serious bodily injuries,”, an eyewitness narrated.

    When contacted , the institution’s Public Relations Officer , Mr Adeyemi Adejolu, confirmed the incident, saying the staff died while performing their duties.

    “It was true that they got electrocuted while performing their duties. It was a sad and regrettable incident that the Polytechnic will regret for long,” he stressed.

    Adejolu added that the victim from Kogi had been taken to his town for immediate burial while the family of the other deceased has been contacted.

  • May Day: Thank you for all that you do, Buhari appreciates workers’ diligence amidst COVID-19 pandemic

    May Day: Thank you for all that you do, Buhari appreciates workers’ diligence amidst COVID-19 pandemic

    President Muhammadu Buhari has appreciated Nigerian workers for the way they have conducted themselves notwithstanding the difficulties of this COVID-19 pandemic situation.

    Buhari sent his message of appreciation to the workers through a Zoom meeting of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) on Friday.

    The President who was represented by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator (Dr) Chris Ngige, extended his good wishes and solidarity to the workers as they marked the May Day celebration.

    “The President has shown his appreciation to you for the way you have conducted yourselves in spite of the deleterious effects of this COVID-19 situation. He has extended his gratitude to the Nigerian workers for the way you have fought this coronavirus,” Ngige said in a press release by his media aide, Emmanuel Nzomiwu.

    Reacting to fears of possible job losses as a result of COVID-19, the labour minister allayed the fears, saying government and social partners would look at the four-pillar policy responses, laid out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) “which are human-centred and built on global solidarity.”

    To ensure economic sustainability post-COVID-19, Ngige told the workers that a comprehensive Economic Sustainability Plan was being developed by the federal government.

    “The plan is being developed by Economic Sustainability Committee led by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, and comprising of Minister of Finance, Industry, Budget and Planning, Central Bank Governor and others and a committee set up by the President, comprising of Ministers of Industry, Trade and Investment, Communication and Digital Economy, Interior, Works and Housing, Health, Science and Technology, Labour and Employment and Education. We are saddled with the responsibility of producing a comprehensive policy for a Nigerian economy functioning with COVID-19,” Ngige said.

    He said talks were ongoing between the Presidential Economic Sustainability Committee and employers on job protection and even job creation at this time and progressively post COVID 19.

    He reiterated that employers would not be encouraged to disengage staff without prerequisite Social Dialogue and clearance from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

    Ngige reassured that all relevant factors to the nation’s workforce would be identified, analysed and solidified to ensure job retention and continued realisation of decent work agenda.

    He stated that employers would not be encouraged to disengage staff without prerequisite Social Dialogue and clearance from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

    Once more, Ngige praised the workers in the healthcare sector for being in the frontline of this war with the invisible enemy.

    He also expressed government appreciation to health workers umbrella unions (JOHESU) and for medical doctors, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), for their professionalism and support at this time of global health crisis.

    He said government has provided hazard allowances and life insurance for those who may lose their lives in the battle against COVID-19, as well as Employees Compensation for those who may lose suffer injuries and disabilities in the course of discharge of their duties.

    Ngige however called on employees in the science, technology, and research sector of the economy to put on their thinking caps and join their colleagues throughout the world and produce cure and/or vaccine for the COVID-19, for testing and other required processes and procedures.

    He said if Madagascar and Senegal had done it, we could also do something greater or key into their knowledge to mass produce for the Nigerian populace.

    He announced that the Presidential Task Force (PTF) has sent people to Madagascar and Senegal to see if they could adapt their methods to tackle COVID 19 pandemic in Nigeria.

  • BREAKING [Covid-19]: Buhari orders civil servants to work from home

    BREAKING [Covid-19]: Buhari orders civil servants to work from home

    President Muhammadu Buhari-led governemnt has ordered federal civil servants from grade one to grade 12 to work from home.

    It explained that this was part of measures by the Federal Government to prevent further community transmission of coronavirus.

    In a circular signed by the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, and directed to all heads of ministries, departments and agencies, all public servants on grade level 12 and below were ordered to stay at home effective Tuesday, March 24.

    Yemi-Esan said, “As you are no doubt aware, the Federal Government has taken a number of measures to manage the identified cases of COVID-19 and curtail its spread.

    “Government is concerned about the welfare and safety of all public servants just as it is about other Nigerians.

    “All public servants are, therefore, strongly advised to follow the measures being put in place by the government to curtail the spread of the pandemic.

    “As a further step to check the spread of COVID-19, all non-essential public servants on grade level 12 and below are to stay and work from home with effect from Tuesday 24th March 2020 until further notice.”

  • Atiku clears air on alleged accumulated salaries owed workers of broadcast outfit

    Atiku clears air on alleged accumulated salaries owed workers of broadcast outfit

    After days of silence, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has reacted to claims that he is owing some foreign workers recruited for his media company, GOTEL.

    In a statement today, his media office rebutted the claim, saying “Nothing can be further from the truth”.

    It emerged from the statement that money to pay the workers of Gotel, both local and foreign was given to their recruiter, John Chiahemen, a famous journalist and that the matter had once been reported to the police. The statement claimed Chiahemen had since disappeared.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the funds dedicated to the payment of salaries of staff, both local and expatriates that were engaged by Chiamehen himself were made available to him. All those concerned are advised to contact Mr Chiamehen accordingly”.

    “To retool its operations, Gotel had in 2013 hired one Mr John Chiahemen to lead the planning, design, build-out and rollout of TV Gotel Africa to be based in Abuja.

    “To this end, Chiamehen was given a free hand by the founder and board of the company to run the affairs of Gotel.

    “Requisite resources, as requested by Chiamehen were made available. On his own part, Chiamehen had committed to a revenue profile of N150 million, among others.

    “But by 2016, there were concerns that the Chiamehen management was only long in promises and short in performance, prompting the then board to empanel an adhoc visitation committee to examine the state of the company. The findings of that committee were damning.

    “Consequently, the committee recommended the need for a comprehensive audit of the company. The audit revealed serious fiduciary infractions by the Chiamehen led management.

  • Ekiti varsity bows to pressure, recalls 363 sacked workers

    The management of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti (EKSU) has approved the reinstatement of 363 workers recently sacked by the institution.

    The decision was reached by the Prof. Bamitale Omole-led Governing Council at its meeting of 7th January, 2020 following the adoption of the report of the management committee set-up to review the report of an external audit firm, DEVTAGE Ltd, that recommended retrenchment.

    The institution management had on December 5, 2019 disengaged over 900 of its workforce for alleged certificate forgery, irregular appointment, overage and other sundry of allegations that contravened its condition of service.

    The Vice Chancellor said the workers were sacked after the adoption of the report of an external private audit firm, DEVTAGE Ltd, contracted to audit the institution finances and its workforce.

    This, he said, was consequent upon the recommendation of the Prof. Bode Asubiojo-led visitation panel set up by Governor Kayode Fayemi, which identified among other things over staffing, redundancy and personnel misalignment in the university as the problem hindering the institution to pay its workers.

    But the Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising of SSANU, NASU, NAAT and the EKSU Alumni Association led by Dr. Oludotun Adetuberu condemned the ‘indiscriminate mass disengagement’, saying the reason for the action was unjustifiable and anathema to the operational rules and regulations of public service.

    A statement signed and made available to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Thursday by the EKSU Head of the Directorate of Information Mr. Bode Olofinmuagun, said the recall was sequel to the appeal lodged by those affected to the institution’s governing council.

    According to him, “The Governing Council of Ekiti State University at its Special Meeting on 7th January, 2020 approved the reinstatement of 363 members of staff who were recently disengaged by the University.

    “The Staff Audit recently carried out clearly exposed the fact that many of the disengaged staff were over aged, some with fake certificates, some falsified their ages, some were illegally recruited and many were indeed ghost workers who never showed up for the exercise.

    “The reinstatement of some the staff, according to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Edward Olanipekun was a vindication of the fact that the exercise was not to witch hunt any member of staff but carried out to reposition the University for better service delivery so that EKSU can become a University of reference nationally and in the global intellectual market of the 21st century,” he said.

  • Nigeria lost N4bn to electricity workers strike

    The industrial action undertaken by members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) on Wednesday may have cost the country over N4 billion with nationwide outages.

    NUEE called off the strike yesterday after meeting with the Federal Government.

    Reports reveal that at least N1.9bn is lost on a normal daily basis when power generation is at an average 3,850 megawatts (MW), record of daily Energy Report by the Advisory Power Team, Office of the Vice President for September 2019 indicates.

    However, in the case of Wednesday’s strike, the national grid was said to have fallen lower than 1,000MW and at some point to a complete shutdown as the union locked out electricity workers across major power generation stations, transmission stations and the distribution stations.

    Experts in the power sector said the losses were unquantifiable but could be over N4bn just for the electricity industry alone.

    As at Tuesday before the strike action commenced, the peak power generation was 4,047.2MW but dropped to abysmally lower figures on Wednesday due to non-operation of the plants.

    NUEE said it protested the non-payment of salaries, pensions and other entitlements across the privatised power firms. NUEE had earlier given a 21-day notice in a letter written to the Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman to intervene in the issue.

    The duration however elapsed on Tuesday, forcing the NUEE members with support from the umbrella body of Trade Union Congress (TUC) to protest. Our reporter observed that electricity workers at the headquarters of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) joined in the protest.

    The union blamed the Federal Ministry of Power for failing to act within the warning period.

    A copy of the letter seen on Wednesday by this paper was signed by the National President of NUEE, Comrade Joe Ajaero. The union said all the power firms must comply with their terms.

    Some of these include remittance of pensions due to all the engaged staff of the DisCos, Generation Companies (GenCos) and other power firms, most of them transferred from the defunct PHCN after the power sector privatization in 2013.

  • JUST IN: Ekiti Varsity sacks 900 workers

    The Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, has sacked 900 workers of the institution for various offences, its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Eddy Olanipekun has said on Thursday.

    Olanipekun said that the decision was taken by the institution’s Governing Council in its meeting on December 5, 2019, saying that decision was in compliance with the reports of an external private audit firm contracted to undertake a holistic audit of the institutions’ staff and finances.

    According to him, this was sequel to the recommendation of the Visitation Panel set up by Governor Kayode Fayemi, which identified among other things over staffing, redundancy and personnel misalignment in virtually all the sections of the university as the problem hindering the institution to pay its workers.

    The Vice Chancellor stated that the affected staffs were 619 workers who were allegedly employed irregularly between 2016 and 2018 by the immediate past Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Oye Bandele during his tenure and 228 staff who allegedly have some discrepancies in their educational qualification.

    Others according to insider sources included ghost workers and some staff who were said to be over ages of 65 and 70 for non-academic and academic workers respectively.

    He disclosed that the university would be able to save over N200 million monthly by the time the staff are expunged on the payroll.

    He said “619 were illegally recruited between 2016 and 2018. Some were over-aged having clocked 68 or 69 but still working when the statute prescribed 65 for nonacademic and 70 for academic staff.

    “The workers were employed irregularly against university regulations within the period 2016-2018 thereby causing major personnel misalignment and skyrocketing of the university wage bill by about 100% within two years.

    “The situation was so bad in the university that it was the monthly contributions of members of staff who belong to some Cooperative, Thrift and Credit Societies in the University that were partly and on a monthly basis used by the then university administration to pay the salaries of those that were irregularly employed and who interestingly refused to join any of the Cooperative, Thrifts and Credit Societies.

    “228 members of staff could not produce/show evidence of Primary School Leaving Certificate. And there were some ghost workers whose names were found on the university payroll without being on the university nominal role.

    “Some members of staff presented falsified birth and educational certificates. Some of the members of staff lacked the required basic educational qualification.

    “Some members of staff were illegally retained in the university services after having been due to retire. There are other cases of over aged staff. Some others lacked the required basic educational qualification.

    “Consequently after due consideration of the issues involved, and the overall best interest of the university in being properly positioned for local relevance and global competitiveness, the Governing Council of Ekiti State University has directed that those who were found to have fallen into the categories above be disengaged of their appointments forthwith in accordance with the university regulations.”

  • NLC tackles First Bank on 1,000 workers’ retrenchment

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the management of First Bank Nigeria Plc., to suspend its plans to lay off over 1,000 of its employees.

    The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), an affiliate of the NLC, had recently alerted the central labour union of the plans by the first generation bank to embark on a mass retrenchment of its staff.

    President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said that rather than retrenching such a huge workforce, the bank should put in place measures to protect their rights at the work place.

    In a letter marked NLC/NS/A. 14/80 and addressed to the Managing Director of First Bank Plc., Wabba expressed reservations over the term “outsourced” used by the bank to describe the workers whose jobs were on the line.

    He argued that categorising workers who have rendered their services to the bank for an average of five years as “outsourced” was inhumane.

    The labour leader noted that based on the Nigeria Labour Act, employers are required to issue the employee a written contract of employment within three months of engagement by the company.

    In the letter, Wabba also argued that any such retrenchment exercise must be done in line with the provisions of the Labour Act guiding Redundancy Exercise.

    He said that apart from the non-recognition of outsourced labour by Nigeria’s labour laws; it is extremely tortuous to imagine that First Bank, with an enabling banking license, could boldly assert that its workers are the responsibility of an entity not licensed to operate as a bank.

    “As a matter of fact, what our laws recognize and what is extensively provided in Section 7 and 11 of Nigeria’s Labour Act is that employers are required, within three months of engagement of an employee, to give the employee a written contract of employment which must specify, among other things, a description of the parties to the contract of employment, the nature of the services(s) to be rendered, the tenure of the contract, remunerations which must be paid, hours of work, the period of notice to be served before the contract can be terminated and possible grounds for the termination of an employee’s contract.

    “The information available to us indicates that First Bank of Nigeria Plc., by its plan to retrench over 1,000 of its staff and without adequate and commensurate severance benefits, is in severe breach of the extant provisions in our labour laws. We also understand that the management of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. has refused to enter into dialogue with NUBIFIE which is the workers’ representative trade union organisation.

    “This is also in contravention to Section 20 of Nigeria’s Labour Act and Convention 98 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the right to Organising and Collective Bargaining which Nigeria had long ratified.

    “It is disheartening that the mass retrenchment billed for the end of November 2019 targets workers whose ages range between 35 and 55 years and who have put in an average of five years in the services of First Bank Nigeria Plc. We also understand that the workers being listed for this unjust and inhumane treatment by your bank have been categorized as outsourced workers.

    “We wish to remind the management of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. that workers are not commodities to be used and tossed aside at will. In addition to declaring humungous profits to its shareholders annually, First Bank of Nigeria Plc. has a higher moral responsibility to the welfare of its workers as they are the ones who create the profit and wealth that the shareholders enjoy. We believe that it must be people before profit,” the letter read in part.

    The NLC has, therefore, demanded an immediate suspension of the plans to retrench the embattled workers.

    It has also asked First Bank to enter into genuine negotiations with NUBIFIE on the issue.

    According to the leadership of the NLC, the bank must put adequate measures in place to re-assure its workers of the bank’s commitment to protect their rights at work.

    NLC warned that should the bank fail to give due consideration to these demands, organised labour would be left with no other option than to adopt time-tested trade union measures to protect the interest and welfare of workers in First Bank.

  • FG may sack workers to meet new minimum wage demand – Ngige

    …says N580bn needed to pay salaries annually

    Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, on Thursday, said that the demand of labour over the implementation of the new minimum wage would cost the Federal Government N580 billion annually.

    Ngige said that such adjustment, in line with labour’s demand, was not sustainable as the government would have to lay off some workers to be able to meet their demands.

    The minister said government cannot afford that kind of money now, adding that the focus of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is on workers on grade level 1 step 1 and level 6 step 1 where the impact of the wage would be felt by workers.

    The Minister disclosed these on Thursday in Abuja when the leadership of United Labour Congress (ULC) led by its President, Mr Joe Ajeiro, paid him a courtesy at the ministry.

    While urging workers to show more understanding to the plight of the federal government, Ngige said the current economic realities, may make the new wage bill not feasible.

    He said that the government was avoiding a situation where it woul have to lay off workers, adding that this would add to the burden of the citizenry.

    Ngige appealed to the labour to accept the consequential adjustment from levels 7 to 17, adding that the federal government had only three months left to implement the new minimum wage.

    He said the government would not tell the labour leadwra what it could not pay, stating that no worker deserved to be owed salary.

    The minister said: “There is no problem with disagreement in the labour system, when can sometimes disagree to later agree, on the national minimum wage, it will translate to an additional N580billion if government agrees to the consequential adjustment labour is proposing.

    “Government cannot afford that kind of money now, besides the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is more interested in the lowest cadre of workers which are those on grade level 1 step 1 and level 6 step 1, these are the ones who the N30,000 will have greater impact on.

    “Government has done their own homework and brought out what they can use to defend this consequential adjustment. Grade 1 to 6 does not have any problem, but 7 to 14 band and 15 to 17 band this is where we have the problem.

    “Once you finish a minimum wage and go into consequential adjustment you are trying to reach a collective bargaining agreement and once you are trying to reach and once you are the principle of ability to pay comes in.

    “So if you push government to go and accede to an increment which its resources cannot accommodate, you are indirectly asking them to retrench workers so that the few that are remaining will get this big big money.

    “We don’t want that, from 2015 the president has made it clear that he is not out to inflict pains on Nigerians and that he does not want to create unemployment but even at that our increase in population is galloping and our resources is not consequentialy increasing to meet up that is why we have a lot of unemployed youths on the street today.

    “We need to arrive at an agreement as soon as possible so that we can use the 2019 budget allocation to deframe this consequential adjustment because it will be bad if we are unable to do it and we finish this financial year by December because the budget circle is going to return to January/December 2020 so we we have three months only before this recurrent funds as well are swept back into government treasury, that is the law.”

    He regretted the inability of the joint negotiating team of both the government and labour to agree on the consequential adjustments, insisting that the new wage may become bloated by workers on grade levels 7-14 and 15-17.

    Already organised labour has started mobilising their members to embark on strike on the 16th of this month.

    Ajaero, in his remarks, appealed to the minister for prompt payment of the new minimum wage, stressing that the private sector must also be compelled to pay the N30, 000 wage.

    He said that there was need to review obsolete laws that were not in tune with present reality, adding that a situation where some private sectors paid their employees N10,000 and N15,000 was unacceptable.