DO YOU KNOW HIM? THE NEXT GOVERNOR OF ABIA-STATE 2015. HIS CHALLENGES AND SUCCESS What are your greatest achievements in the past three years you have been in the saddle as the labour and productivity minister? Let me begin by saying that in the last three years, we have recorded a lot of achievements but the greatest in my modest thinking is the ability to achieve some level of cordiality between the tripartite partners, the government, labour and employers. But in no specific order of importance, I will say that the new minimum wage, which has become an act of parliament during my stay as Minister of Labour and Productivity with the support of Mr. President, whose initiative it was to set up the committee and ensured the quick completion of the committee’s job, that is the Alfa Belgore’s Committee on Minimum Wage with presentation from all the critical stakeholders. So we arrived at N18, 000 as the new minimum wage which was quickly signed into law immediately it was approved by the National Assembly. Within that same period, we were able to put in a lot of policies. One of the outstanding laws passed was the Employment Compensation Act, which has replaced the archaic Workmen Compensation Act. This happened during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, GCON, with me as the Minister of Labour and Productivity. Also, we have the amendment of the 1999 constitution which included the making of the National Industrial Court a court of superior records and was approved by the President too. Moreover, we have other bills in the area of social security being treated at the national assembly and I have a profound belief that at the end of the day, they will all be approved. They are on Occupational Safety and Health. Within this period, the first ever Productivity Policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council and it was presented by my humble self. Also, the federal government, through the Federal Executive Council approved the National Action Plan on Employment Creation (NAPEC Document) and this seeks to identify the sectors of the economy that have huge capacity to create jobs. Precisely on May 25, 2011, I issued a guideline on outsourcing and contract staffing in the oil and gas industry, having had the validation by all the stakeholders which also enjoys the support of the current Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources and all the trade unions in that sector. As it is done in other climes, I got a regulation on lift escalators and a review of the Factory Act to be done by the Inspectorate Department of the ministry. I’m pursuing a holistic review of the Factory Act because most of the provisions are already archaic and from there I had to extract the areas relating to lift and escalators that form front and horizontal movement of the people. Again, I’m looking into a possible regulation of contract staffing and outsourcing in the banking and telecoms industries. Very soon, I will be presenting a national policy on the elimination of the worst form of child labour before the Federal Executive Council. Within this same period, we got the ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention which was deposited with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) during the last ILO Conference in Geneva Switzerland. I can go on and on but let me quickly add that the Local Employment Content Initiative which makes it compulsory and mandatory for MDA’s to indicate the number of jobs that will be created locally for Nigerian workers in each of their programmes, has been a huge success because about 200,000 jobs have been created from the time it was approved up to January 2013. Your appointment in April 2010 coincided with the period of tense industrial climate with the threat of the federal civil servants to embark on a crippling strike which you were able to contain immediately you came on board. What really happened? That was why I said one of the major achievements was the cordiality between the government and the labour unions. It was a really great challenge, but upon my assumption then, what I did was to seek the confidence of the unions in me because I was newly appointed. I told them to trust me and to believe in me. They did so and gave a one month grace and within that one month specifically on the May Day celebration when President Jonathan came to the Eagle Square where he took the salute of all the trade unions in a march past. He saw all their placards, indicating all sorts of agitation and he picked most of them for further scrutiny. At that particular occasion, he directed me and the then head of civil service of the federation, Mr. Steve Oronsanye to look into details of the agitations of workers of the federal government, which resulted in the current salary increase of the federal civil servants, which has equally been synchronized with the new Minimum Wage Act; a 53.4 percent was actually approved at the federal government level by my committee and that of Steve Oronsanye. This is now in tandem with the new Minimum Wage Act. Can you throw more light on what your administration has done in respect of agitations against contract staffing, casualisation and outsourcing of jobs by banks and other telecoms sectors operators? One of such instance was the recent problem in Diamond Bank? Let me begin by saying that my approach is always to be proactive in whatever I do. When there was a hint that there was a problem between workers and management of Diamond Bank, we invited both parties. That was before the picketing that took place in the bank branches in different parts of the country. Discussions are ongoing. We have not come to a final decision and we have not taken any position. When negotiation fails, the next thing to do is to go to arbitration court and I have the authority according to the extant laws to refer such matters to National Industrial Court for adjudication. There are judicial pronouncements which say casualisation as a form of employment is permissible but people could say it is not the best form of employment; it can only be so when that judicial pronouncement is being negated by employers of labour. So, once you are within the ambit of the law and the extant judicial pronouncement which says that no person shall remain a casual worker in your system for more than six months without conversion to full employment, that means if you have been using a casual worker for six months, you are still within the best practices but anything other than that is an abuse of the judicial pronouncement and that is what we frown at. I think what employers have devised is that within this period, employers are cashing in on the desperation of casual workers. These employers engage them and sack them after six months. This is very bad and inhuman. We have one or two cases that have been reported to my ministry and we are looking into them. Then outsourcing and contract staffing are not evil. What I observe was that by the time I assumed office, there were several agitations especially in the oil and gas sector. That was what led to the issuance of that guideline on outsourcing and contract staffing. I promised Nigerians that I would do it and by May 25, 2011, we had a validated document and it has always come handy during government-labour discussions in the oil and gas sector and we are planning to do same in the telecommunications sector. I have had discussions with my colleague, the minister for communication; we want to equally do it in the banking sector to have the international best practices in terms of engagement. It’s about unemployment and underemployment issues, so I’m devising the best means to tackle these issues. If I’m able to do what I plan to do in the telecommunications sector, then outsourcing of call centres will be tackled. Most of the call that terminated in Nigeria will now be handled within the country instead of taking it to India or Ghana. The only thing that is lacking in that sector is regulation. On outsourcing, critics believe Nigerian workers are unnecessarily being exploited as they are paid ridiculous wages. What is your opinion on this? Collective bargaining is part of labour relations. If you accept to work for an organisation, you must equally agree on certain terms of engagement. That’s why the unions have been put in place. So, if the unions are there and have a good relationship with the employers, what they need to do at the point of engagement is to set up terms of engagement- collective bargains agreement and there are conditions. You cannot willingly engage yourself in some forms of jobs and with the conditions spelt out and you now start complaining. These things are supposed to be spelt out at the point of engagement. When you take up any form of job, you are bound by the condition of service or collective bargaining. It is only when all these conditions are not fulfilled by the employers that complaint can be attended to. What have you achieved in your quest to identify sectors with high potential to generate jobs? Agriculture is one area and I have no doubt that adequate jobs have been created in that area. With the new approach by this administration to agriculture, there is a value added chain. And then in the area of ICT, jobs are being created but hugely more jobs are in the area of works and infrastructure. Within the period of assumption of office by President Goodluck Jonathan, this country has witnessed massive road construction and this has brought about jobs for the Nigerian youths. So as these projects progress, more jobs are being created. You can see that so many roads are being re-constructed; rehabilitated and new ones are being embarked upon. There is the SURE-P vocational training which is creating jobs. All the aspects of the SURE-P are not only to cushion the effects of partial removal of subsidy in the oil regime but to create jobs. In the tourism and in the power sectors, jobs are being created. In railways, jobs are being created after decades of decay. Jobs are being created in the transport sector too. Immediately after the crisis in 2012, the federal government bought some buses and in each of the buses, we have a driver and two conductors. We also have people at the loading bay which include vulcanisers, etc. To capture the figures of these job creation measures, Mr. President set up a committee on job creation which I’m heading. It is a cross-cutting committee that has everybody including representatives of the National Bureau of Statistics. I am confident that at the end of the day, the current figure issued by the NBS which is 23.9 percent which has been with us before President Jonathan came to the office will double, especially when you now input the various job creation efforts of this administration. What is your reaction to the allegation of discrimination over the administration of SURE-P largesse? I think people should criticise with known facts. Since we began sensitisation programme in some of the geo-political zones of the country, the story has changed because people are seeing things for themselves and the level of criticism has gone down drastically because these things are there. They are not done on a partisan basis and it is not done on religious basis. It is for all Nigerians, wherever they are located. There is also a graduate scheme which will capture the people that are graduates. It’s only when you are not a Nigerian that you cannot benefit from the SURE-P programme. Will you say you are making progress on the ongoing ASUU strike? Right now we are talking; this strike commenced while we were still talking with them. There is a committee that is engaging them under the leadership of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. We have gone to the National Assembly; there is a joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives. We have never backed out from discussions. How did you resolve the labour crisis at Mainstreet Bank? There were newspaper reports of protests by the disengaged workers that after 25 years, they were asked to go with paltry sum of either N25, 000 or N100, 000. The affected staffs were threatening to go to court or cause problem at the bank. So, proactively, I invited all the parties including the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (owners of the three bridged banks). At the end of the day, we agreed on the approach to follow- redundancy and severance. We supervised the process of redundancy and the process of severance. At the end of the day, the two parties were happy. We have had intervention in Union Bank and so many other organisations. From the time I was appointed as a minister of labour till date, I have intervened in more than 600 agitations. How do you feel when you hear that one of the causes of delay to the privatisation PHCN was the protest of electricity workers union? In the power sector, we had labour issues. I mediated in some of those issues and at some point, we invited international mediator in the person of Comrade Hassan Sunmonu, a veteran labour leader and after series of negotiations, we came out with a report. I had to make my own reports and recommendations to Mr. President and he set up a committee under the chairmanship of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and we reached agreements with the unions and signed the agreement. It is being implemented by the Ministry of Power. For now, that is the position. We are at the stage of implementation which is being carried out by the ministry of power. It will only affect workers of PHCN who have been verified by biometrics. I think the payment has commenced. What’s the National Productivity Policy all about? It is a policy put in place to encourage and reward productivity in all sectors of the economy as well as determine the level acceptable to the government. By August 13, we are going to have National Productivity Honours Award. In fact, it is the National Productivity Day which has been agreed by both the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council. It is to encourage people in the area of productivity and of course help improve the system because productivity had declined before the coming of the current administration. So, Mr. President encouraged us to bring it to the council. It was equally shocking that we didn’t have a productivity policy. The national productivity policy came immediately after President Jonathan approved the new minimum wage which was to motivate the Nigerian workforce. You can see the correlation between a motivated workforce and the national productivity. It means that since the workforce is motivated even at the highest level, then we will have the highest level of productivity. This was the real reason why I came up with such a fantastic policy and it was widely received by stakeholders in labour administration in the country. Is N18, 000 minimum wage the best this government can offer under the current reality? There are various factors that determine what a minimum wage is. As at the time this minimum wage was proposed, a lot of indices were used. If you benchmark it from the aspect of inflation, today, our inflation rate has gone down; there is the assumption that the minimum wage with a particular benchmark, which is inflation, is still a living wage. The other factors could be style of living and locational issues like if one is working in Abuja or if you are working in Lagos. So, it can be higher than any other part. You don’t expect someone who works in Akure to be paid the same wage with another person that works in Abuja. That is why the Federal Government and the FCT government is desirous and pushing for public transportation including rail and buses so that they can cushion the effect of high cost of living and that is why the President Jonathan administration is pushing for the provision of low-cost housing. So it’s more of a locational problem, not necessarily money. Another factor is lifestyles. Some people have lifestyles that are not in tandem with their resources. If you check the inflation rate at the time of fixing the new minimum wage and now, you will find out that inflation rate, according to official figures have come down. The economy is doing well, irrespective of what people say. What does Employee Compensation Act entail? The Employee Compensation Act is an act that has come to replace the Workman Compensation Act, which is outdated and archaic. Employee Compensation Act is being operated by the National Social Insurance Trust Fund. It is a huge success because they have been able to meet expectations in terms of workforce in Nigeria that are being compensated. The volume of compensation has gone down because of the activities of the inspectorate department from the Ministry of Labour. It is safe and healthy for everybody. That is why we have been able to record low level of compensation. Workplaces are safer now. The reason is because the ministry of labour and productivity continue to improve and strengthen the inspectorate department. To what extent has your legal training equipped you for your role as labour and productivity Minister? So many things could have affected my ability to do what I’m doing as labour and productivity minister. I was active in student unionism, that is one and I take interest in anything I do. I came from a science background because I didn’t set out to be a lawyer. Initially, I studied Mathematics, Physics and other science subjects with the hope of pursuing engineering but somewhere along the line, I had to abandon that and focused on law at the age of 17. I eventually became a lawyer at the age of 21. I joined politics immediately I was through with my National youth service. I was combining politics with legal practice. I come from a background where we believe you need to talk, be honest and be frank. My public service career equally helped me. Apart from being in partisan politics, I was equally vice chairman of my local government, Aba South Local Government and subsequently the Chairman of the local government. I won the election to go to the Federal House of Representatives during the Abacha regime. From there, I served in Abia State Executive Council until March 2000 when I became a Commissioner in the Federal Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. When I was at the Revenue Commission, I served at various committees. At some points, I was chairman of revenue formula, chairman of oil and gas committee that was saddled with the responsibility of resolving crisis between oil littoral states. We did our job with the fear of God. However, all these achievements could not have been possible without the support of President Jonathan, my boss, who has supported me effectively. In most times, he comes to mediate and intervene in some difficult issues. Again, he also offers correction some times when I’m not doing the right thing. He has tolerated me just like he has tolerated most of our colleagues who are also fallible. I have no other goal than to succeed. I also enjoy the support of the staff of the ministry. BY EKOMARU AND HON. STRATEGY ..
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 09:32:51 +0000
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