Workers
Strike: Kaduna government, NLC reach agreement
The Kaduna State Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress have reached an agreement on the plan by the state government to lay off workers. The NLC has since Monday led workers to protest against the plan by the Kaduna government to lay off the workers. The late Thursday agreement between the two parties was brokered by the federal government in Abuja. Part of the agreement was that the Kaduna government will follow due process and the “principle of redundancy,” as stipulated in Section 20 of the Labour Act, in its Public Service Revitalization and Renewal Programme, which is expected to lead to the retrenchment and sack of workers. The parties also agreed that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) twill no longer continue with its industrial action while no worker shall be victimized by the...
NUPENG threatens nationwide strike over attack on labour leaders in Kaduna
File Photo Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, has threatened a nationwide strike over attack on leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC including its President, Ayuba Wabba and other Labour leaders during Tuesday’s peaceful protest in Kaduna State as part of the ongoing five-day strike to force the state government to rescind alleged anti-workers policies including the recent mass sack of workers. The thugs had attacked the labour leaders after Governor Nasir el- Rufai left the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, adjacent where the workers assembled, with heavily armed security personnel. The armed thugs came in a bus and attacked the Labour leaders with various weapons including stick, bottles, stones and machete. Reacting to the development, NUPENG expres...
Kaduna strike: Nigerian governors appeal to NLC to exercise restraint
Governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) have appealed to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to exercise calm and restraint in its engagement with the Kaduna State government. The NGF in a statement on Monday by its chairman and Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, called for cautious introspection on the part of Labour as no meaningful progress of any kind has ever been achieved in an atmosphere of conflict and chaos. He said the NGF also wishes to remind the NLC that its actions could become counter-productive especially as the last year 2020 adversely affected workers socially and economically. “Therefore the NGF advises the NLC to explore the already open avenue of rapprochement that the Kaduna State government has provided to resolve the matter and join the State...
ASCAB: Kaduna governor sacked over 60,000 workers in six years
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond say Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has sacked over 60,000 workers since he took office in May 2015. They, therefore, endorsed the five-day strike across Kaduna State which will begin on Monday. ASCAB in a statement on Sunday called on all NLC affiliates and supporters to join the “essential strike” adding that a “firm action is needed to reverse the massive attacks on jobs and poverty induced insecurity in Kaduna State.” Falana said the economy of Kaduna was traditionally built around textile factories and the public sector but in the decade before the administration of el-Rufai, the last four major textile factories were closed with many of the workers not receiving any terminal benefits ...
Kaduna in total blackout as workers begin strike
Kaduna State on Sunday was thrown into total blackout ahead of the five-day warning strike directed by the Nigeria Labour Congress to commence from midnight of Sunday in the state. The total blackout followed a warning by the National Union of Electricity Employees, an affiliate of the NLC, directing its workers to join the strike action in Kaduna beginning on Midnight Sunday. But the state government said it won’t bow to the intimidation of the NLC over its planned ‘rightsizing’ of the state workforce. While speaking at a press conference in Kaduna on Saturday, the Commissioner of Local Government Affairs, Malam Jafaru Sani, said it uncovered a plot by the NLC to recruit hoodlums from other states of the federation to cause mayhem under the pretext of embarking on strike. Sani, therefore,...
Dua Lipa wins album of the year at Brit Awards
Dua Lipa won the coveted British Album of the Year prize at the Brit Awards on Tuesday, in a ceremony that saw female artists dominate the mixed categories. Around 4,000 guests streamed into London’s O2 Arena for the biggest night in British pop music, as the ceremony welcomed guests for the first time in two years as part of the government’s pilot scheme easing coronavirus restrictions. The Brit Awards have been criticised in the past for nominations seen as skewing heavily male, but this year almost all of the main prizes went to female artists. Little Mix won best British group — becoming the first female act ever to do so. Singer and poet Arlo Parks took the Breakthrough Artist award, and best international group went to the American band HAIM. In another history-making moment, Taylor ...
NASU: Decision to reduce civil servants salaries ’provocative’
File Photo The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) says plan by the Federal Government to slash salaries of Federal civil servants is “provocative’’. NASU made this known in a statement by its General Secretary, Mr Peters Adeyemi on Sunday in Abuja. It will be recalled that Mrs Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, had given the hint on May 4, at the National Policy Dialogue on Corruption and Cost of Governance in Nigeria, organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in Abuja. Ahmed said during the dialogue that the review of salaries of civil servants and some federal agencies were part of measures to reduce cost of governance. She said the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) had bee...
NNPC begins work on Port Harcourt refinery
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has kicked off construction work in the Port Harcourt Refinery rehabilitation project with a firm commitment not to fail Nigerians. A statement on Friday by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr Kennie Obateru, quoted the NNPC Chief Operating Officer, Refineries & Petrochemicals, Engr Mustapha Yakubu, as saying that everything was being done to ensure that the project is delivered hitch-free and on schedule. Speaking at the Technical Kick-off Meeting for the project held at the Port Harcourt Refinery Complex, Alesa Eleme, Rivers State, Engr Yakubu said everything about the project had been carefully worked out to ensure that the target of at least 90% refining capacity is achieved when operational. “I...
AUPCTRE: Nigerian government’s disregard to implement agreements responsible for ASUP, PASAN, JUSUN strike
The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, AUPCTRE, has accused the Federal Government of being responsible for the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria, PASAN. AUPCTRE accused the government of being in the habit of reneging from the implementation of collective bargaining agreements it entered willingly with unions. The General Secretary of AUPCTRE, Comrade Sikiru Waheed, stated this in a goodwill message on the occasion of the 2021 May Day celebration. He said his union was in support of the efforts of the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC in all its struggles. According to the state...
May Day: Governor Masari lists gains of Katsina workers
Apart from various housing schemes for civil servants in the area, Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari, on Saturday listed various other programmes designed for workers. As part of measures to reduce accommodation problems of workers, Governor Masari said that government had entered into partnership with some private developers through public private partnership with a view to providing affordable houses to workers. The governor spoke in a message he sent at a symposium as part of activities marking the 2021 May Day celebrations in Katsina. According to him, ‘under the owner-occupier housing scheme, government has identified 503 of the state houses accommodating serving civil servants and those who retired and approved the sale of the houses to them at subsidised and affordable rates...
May Day: President Buhari promises workers better packages
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured workers of better packages to cushion economic effects of COVID-19 on their resources. The President said his administration has put in place some socio-economic policies to alleviate poverty. Buhari said the Federal Government has expanded the Conditional Cash Transfer for the vulnerable poor from 2.6 million households to 7.6 million. He also noted COVID-19 Rapid Response Register has been expanded for urban poor to 4.8 million households, which included urban poor and working class. The President spoke during this year’s May Day celebration at the Eagle Square on Saturday in Abuja. This year’s celebration had as its theme: “COVID-19 pandemic, social and economic crisis: challenges for decent jobs, social protection and people’s welfare”. Buhari, wh...
Kaduna strike: Northern governors call for calm
The Northern Governors Forum has called for calm and dialogue between Kaduna State Government and organised labour, to resolve the ongoing warning strike by workers in the state. The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau, Mr Simon Lalong, made the call in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr. Makut Macham, on Tuesday in Jos. He said the forum was concerned of the impact of the strike on the state and its residents following the lockdown of economic activities in the state. The chairman noted that dialogue and negotiations were effective tools of addressing dispute in labour relations. He called for restraint and de-escalation of the situation to enable amicable resolutions. He pointed out that peaceful resolution was only possible when both parties operate wi...