Politics
Progressive Govs Forum DG Calls For Reorientation Of Labour Unions
The Director-General, Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr Salihu Lukman, has called for a reorientation of labour unions to ensure effective negotiations between them and employers of their members.
PGF members are governors elected on the platform of the APC.
Lukman said in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, that the on-going nationwide strike by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) and other health workers for instance, was blameable on lack of institutional capacity.
He said the strike was also blameable on the inability of labour unions to effectively negotiate with employers and with governments.
He expressed regret at frequent strikes by healthcare workers which, he said, had led to preventable, unfortunate and avoidable deaths.
Lukman noted that most noticeable factor when union leaders, including those of NARD and the NLC negotiated with employers was the display of raw power.
The negotiations, he further noted, were often devoid of any empirical or conceptual evidence highlighting a vision of how the problems could be solved.
He stressed that rather than providing a roadmap of how problems could be solved, ego and loud voices of supposed opponents had become the main features.
“Any contrary opinion is condemned and dismissed; this is the new face of workers leaders’ in Nigeria.
“Street protests and strikes ahead of any negotiations are now very common. There is the need to reorient the practice of labour relations in Nigeria.
“A situation where because citizens are angry with government and political leaders, essential services are withdrawn and lives of citizens cheaply sacrificed must stop,’’ he stressed.
Lukman said it was frustrating when political appointees, such as ministers were unable to proactively pre-empt strikes.
Lukman said also that all stakeholders must as a matter of urgency lock themselves in the most qualitative form of negotiations with workers in the health sector.
This, he said, was critical to restore some minimum standards in the sector and not simply about negotiating terms and conditions of services of health workers.
He said Nigerians must also appeal to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to take all necessary measures to restore ethical conducts of all its registered members.
“A situation where conducts of medical practitioners, being also members of trade unions, conflict with the Code of Ethics they swore to, must be resolved in favour of protecting the lives of Nigerians.
“Under no circumstance should a registered medical doctor who is a member of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria conduct himself or herself in manners that neglected the primary responsibility of attending to sick persons.
“Labour issues. including negotiations for wages and terms of conditions of services and resolving challenges should be moved to the concurrent list in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended,’’ he said.
Lukman explained that a situation where terms agreed with the Federal Government were used by state governments’ employees would always create problems of implementation.
He advised that state governments should be more creative to introduce new incentives, which were not necessarily monetary, but perhaps having higher monetary values than what obtains in federal establishments.
According to him, there is a wide scope for initiatives beyond the question of monetary value of employment.
He added that given the cost to human life from strikes by health workers, it was quite alarming that strikes in a sector as important as health would be taking place at all.
“This is a sector that by every standard should be classified as essential based on which there should be special legal restrictions regarding labour actions such as strikes.
“A major challenge of Nigeria’s labour relations may have to do with issues of over-centralisation and institutional capacity to manage, regulate and facilitate negotiations and agreements.
“The issue of over-centralisation will continue to create challenges largely because negotiations between workers’ and employers’ organisations are no longer informed by empirical reality of resources available,’’ Lukman stated.
He noted that the five-day warning strike by the NLC against Kaduna State government in May over allegations of wrongful dismissals of employees of the state government could have been averted.
This, he said, was especially if the state’s Ministry of Labour had enforced provisions of the relevant laws to compel resumption of negotiations between unions and employers, including government.
He said the current indefinite strike by NARD members might also have been averted if there was a proper meeting between the Ministry of Labour and Productivity and parties to the disputes before the expiration of the ultimatum.
The NARD on-going indefinite nationwide strike is to demand for improved conditions and payment of unpaid salaries by some state governments.
The strike is also to protest the failure to domesticate the Medical Residency Training Act 2017 in states, among others. (NAN)
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr Joe Johnson, and other stakeholders have condemned the call by the embattled Martin Amaewhule-led members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for the arrest of Local Government Caretaker Chairmen in the state.
The Commissioner, who made his position known in a voice note he sent a live radio discussion programme in Port Harcourt, described the call as illegal.
He explained that the Local Government Caretaker Committees were empowered by the State Local Government law of 2018, stressing that since the amendment made to the law by former lawmakers in their tenure elongation bid was dismissed by the court, the 2018 law is still subsisting.
According to the Commissioner, the 2018 law provides a window of 90 days for caretaker committees in the event that election could not be held and urged the public to discountenance the call.
Meanwhile, the Coalition of Rivers State Leaders of Johnson Thoughts (CORSLOT), a socio- political organisation, has joined in condemning the call.
Convener of the Coalition, High Chief Sunnie Chukumele, described the call as an act of brigandage.
He said the call is not only unconstitutional but also capable of causing disaffection in the state.
Chief Chukumele argued that Martin Amaewhule lacked the locus standi to make the call since he was no longer a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“CORSLOT condemned the call, and we want to warn Martin Amaewhule against causing crisis in the state”, he said.
He said as elders of the state, the Coalition will continue to speak out against evil.
Also reacting, a former Organizsing Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Andoni Local Government Area, Elder Blessing Tiko, said the call was coming from someone that is seeking for relevance.
He also said Martin Amaewhule and the 25 former law makers had no locus standi to make such call as their positions were being contested in court, urging the police to ignore the call.
John Bibor
As the campaign for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State heats up, the Edo State Government has challenged the candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Monday Okpebholo, to address the electorate directly and not through the over 150 spokesmen who speak on his behalf.
Addressing a press conference, Wednesday, the duo of Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, and Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, said that it was embarrassing that in the last three months, Senator Okpebholo had not addressed the people directly.
They therefore challenged the APC candidate to address the people of the state in any language of his choice, for, at least, five minutes.
Speaking, Mr Nehikhare noted that the APC had in the last three months issued over 150 press statements without one of the statements mentioning what the party intended to do for the people of Edo State, if elected.
Mr Nehikhare, who said that Governor Obaseki should be commended for the maturity he displayed in handling the violence that broke out in the state penultimate Thursday, bemoaned a situation where the APC had not deemed it necessary to mention one line item it planned to execute should it be elected in the forthcoming election.
“We led the charge for the N70,000 minimum wage, which the APC Federal Government has copied. Our candidate, Asue Ighodalo, has said that he would review it upward if elected. The APC has not said what it intends to do. The APC has not shown any innovative way to involve itself in the minimum wage.
“Since September last year, we introduced the free bus ride scheme, and we have extended it to November. Nowhere from the APC have we heard what it wants to do. We have employed over 5,000 people into the civil service, apart from the teaching service; there has been nothing from the APC,” the commissioner stated.
According to Mr Nehikhare, “The APC candidate is the only one with over 150 people speaking for him and none has said anything about what the APC candidate will do for the people. Is that how to do it? Won’t the candidate speak for himself?”
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Dr.John Okoroafor, has called on Rivers people, especially supporters of the PDP, to commit to the success of the forthcoming local government elections in the state.
Addressing newsmen recently in Okehi, headquarters of the LGA, on his readiness to contest the chairmanship seat of the council in the scheduled October 5, 2024 Local Government polls, Dr Okoroafor urged supporters of the party to remain calm, steadfast and supportive to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s administration.
On political crisis in the state, he enjoined the people not to yield to threats of those he described as “enemies of Rivers development and progress,” but rather stay committed and proactive in their support to both the Governor and the PDP as it affects the coming elections.
Dr Okoroafor, a lawyer and Deputy State Coordinator of a political pressure group in the state, the PDP-Grassroots Support Base of Nigeria (PDP-GSBN), stressed that, “We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated or terrorised to fail in this civic responsibility.”
He said this is necessary so that leaders and loyalists of the party in the state would not be harassed, intimidated and arrested by security agents even on the day of election.
The PDP Chairmanship hopeful in the area also hinted that the opposition plans to engage in electoral violence and all manner of distractions.
“In all of these, be civil, calm, tolerant and focused, as the best is around the corner for us all”, he admonished.
The PDP chieftain appealed to Etche electorate in particular and Rivers voters in general to rise up to vote massively for all the PDP candidates in the polls.
Dr Okoroafor enjoined them not to vote in anyone that is opposed to the Governor Fubara -led government, arguing that the opposition lacked credibility and does not mean well for them.
He assumed Etche people that if voted in to power as Chairman, he will facilitate more development projects to the LGA, including jobs and other dividends of democracy.
Meanwhile, Dr Okoroafor said it had become necessary to encourage unemployed graduates to engage in skills acquisition rather than roaming the streets for employment opportunities, that do not exist.
Bethel Toby
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