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NAPO Raises Alarm Over Job Racketeering In Bonny
The Chairman, National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO), Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Comrade Harold Benstowe has lamented the spate of indiscriminate employment racketeering in the area.
NAPO, an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Rivers State council, has its membership cut across both oil servicing and construction companies in the country.
Comrade Benstowe made the disclosure during an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday, adding that prospective job seekers in the area were made to pay between N150,000 and N200,000 before they could be offered job placement in Bonny.
He accused the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council of colluding with the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, whose duty, according to him, was to shortlist candidates seeking employment opportunities in the area, to collect the money.
According to him, the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council has reportedly continued to engage in the recruitment matter through the Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, adding that instead of allowing the companies themselves to conduct the recruitments, the chiefs council allegedly prefers to sublet the recruitment to labour contractors.
He alleged that the labour contractors, with the aid of the Bonny Recruitment Centre, collect bribe money from the prospective job seekers and allegedly remits certain percentage of the monetary value to the traditional rulers council.
He further alleged that the perpetrators of this act prefer selling the job slots given to them and sit at home to collect percentages of the salary from their clients at the end of the month.
The NAPO chairman described the act as criminal and barbaric, adding that a situation where people are subjected to pay money before they could be offered employment in the area was morally wrong and unacceptable. “People can not be denied employment opportunity to work in Bonny simply because they don’t have money to bargain for the job even when they are qualified for the position,” he added.
Comrade Benstowe recalled that he had made several attempts to stop the collection of money from job seekers in the area but that his effort yielded no positive results due to the interest of a cabal in the business.
He disclosed that on 6th, April, 2013 at the employment interview conducted by the Overseas Technical Services (OTS), a maintenance company with LNG Bonny, he stormed the company and demanded that the interview be suspended because of the alleged bribery involving the short listed candidates.
The NAPO leader said that he did not know that the action he took to halt the proposed interview, especially for the heavy duty operators, did not go down well with the bureau, adding that he was subsequently attacked in the process.
He threatened to stop at nothing in ensuring that the criminal act was stopped in the area, and called on the relevant anti-corruption and other security agencies to investigate the activities of the bureau, so as to give deprived people opportunity to work in the area.
Some of the prospective job seekers, who attended the OTS interview last Saturday and spoke to The Tide on phone confirmed that they paid huge sums of money before their names were short- listed for the interview.
According to them, the money varies from one job slot to the other, adding that their prayers are that the job be given to them at last.
However, when contacted on phone, the chairman, Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre, Mr Opina Allison and Chief Sodien Jackmay who is in-charge of employment matters at the Bonny Traditional Rulers Council in their separate reactions, denied having knowledge of such allegations and dealings.
Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.