Nigeria Should Expect More Strikes, Protests in 2015 –Experts Say
by MESHACK IDEHEN on Jan 6, 2015
Nigerian National Mirror
The activities of organised labour unions are largely responsible for the country’s smooth industrial relations, harmony and development. However, a recurring source of concern in the out gone year was the incessant and crippling industrial actions by unions. More strikes and protests are to be expected this year labour insists, MESHACK IDEHEN writes.
Workers in the nation’s health sector may have taken the lead for the position of being the first union to threaten and embark on a strike action in 2015.
Operating under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions and Assembly of Health Care Professional, JOHESU, the health workers, just like in previous years, wants the Federal Government to meet near impossible demands which the government is not willing to accede to.
By the middle of next month in the same vein, oil and gas workers under the auspices of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASAN, may also embark on industrial action, if their numerous demands are not met by the government.
For civil servants under the umbrella of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, delayed and irregular salaries, coupled with stagnation in one position may the reason why they will embark on strike in the coming months.
These examples said watchers of Nigeria labour sector, represent the hard truth that 2015, like other years before it, will be a year of strikes protests and industrial action by organized labour in Nigeria.
They said challenging and pressing labour related issues aside that the Year 2014 (last year) has been defined by many labour and industrial relations practitioners as a year of agitations and unending industrial actions by the nation’s workers.
Including from analysts and experts, industry stakeholders in trying to quantify the cost of the incessant strikes, agitations, protest and lock down on the country’s economy, posit it was about time labour unions were proscribed and government more meticulous in signing labour and industrial relations agreements with them.
To other experts and stakeholders however, proscribing the labour union will not rescue the county from the clutches of frequent industrial action, since the governments at state and Federal levels also carry a large chunk of the blame for Nigeria’s poor industrial relations record.
A Workers’ Rights Activist, and President of Progressive Leaders Organisation International, (PLOI), Mr. Emmanuel Ezueme, told National Mirror that Nigeria is in the suffocating embrace of labour and industrial unions, and that the nonchalant attitude of Federal and state government will sooner than later put the country on the brink of irreversible economic collapse.
He said based on the present socio economic situation in the country that more strikes, protests and agitations by industrial unions are to be expected.
Recalling there were over 35 different strike actions by different unions in the outgoing year (2014) compared to the 26 of Year 2013, he said the drawback the country was experiencing is largely tied to three main unions; those in the oil and gas industry, those in the power sector, and those in the education, medical and allied employments sector.
He maintained that the oil and gas sector workers which operate under the auspices of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN, may be doing more disservice to the country than any good.
Ezueme said the recurring cases whereby oil and gas workers have perpetually held the nation and the petroleum sector in particular by the jugular as witnessed again in the last month of 2014 has led in part to the stillborn state of the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) which even the oil and gas workers are clamouring for, years after it was first presented to the National Assembly for passage into law.
According to the labour activist, “Calls for proscription of labour unions are not misplaced, particularly when the suffering Nigerians are made to go through whenever the union’s strike is brought into consideration. The Academic Staff Union of Universities strike that just ended is still fresh in peoples’ mind”, Ezueme added.
Indeed, it would be recalled that Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, affiliate; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, only just recently called off a several month’s long strike, after the Federal Government agreed to meet some of the “hard conditions” they had reeled out.
Labour and industrial relations expert, Dr. Peter Okhiria, told our correspondent banning unions will not save the country from the grasps of recurring and toll taking industrial actions in 2015, but that it was time organised industrial unions change their approach when making demands of their employers, or negotiating with the government.
Citing instances of what he said is the never ending calls for strikes by those in the medical profession, Okhiria said the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, which regularly directs health workers in Federal hospitals to commence indefinite strike throughout Nigeria must tread cautiously in the coming years, if it is not to completely lose out in the goodwill of Nigerians.
As for the medical doctors under the umbrella of the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Okhiria said it behooves on them to prevail on health workers to consider other options before embarking on strike, instead of being the one calling for the strikes themselves.
National Mirror recalls that health workers in 2014 went on strikes severally over a number of demands that includes the non-skipping of salary Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS, 10, implementation of National Health Bill, consultancy and specialist allowances and call/ shift duty and other professional allowances, amongst other demands experts said can easily be addressed.
Berating ASUU over it long strike this year, author and management expert, Mr. Kunle Rotimi, told our correspondent the union should be the first industrial union to be proscribed, if ever the Federal Government decided to go ahead with its plans to create an alternative national labour center.
Rotimi said it was obvious that ASUU had other ulterior motives, apart from the quest to get adequate funding for education, even if the government was not too proactive in its dealings and negotiations with the union, saying the union has since lost the confidence and trust of most Nigerians, particularly parents.
Also calling for a more restrained approach on the part of the unions, Rotimi said it was the obstinate attitude of unions in the power sector that dragged the reforms of the power sector for many years.
According to him, the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Corporations, SSAEAC, contributed in no small measure to the epileptic power delivery in the country till date.
However, SSAEAC President, Mr. Bede Opara, refuted allegations that the union prolonged the reforms for several years, saying the interest and welfare of workers must be taken care of, before the reforms and privatization were completed.
Be that as it may, it is on record, said Human Resource Development Consultant, Mr. Tope Awosegba, that electricity workers union have proceeded or threatened to proceed on strike more than 10 times in this year alone, even after they have been privatized.
According to him, the latest threat for a nationwide blackout by electricity workers was in November when the unions threatened to stop the supply of electricity across the country if the Federal Government does not conclude of payment of workers entitlements to some of their members that were said to have been left out of recent payments.
“Such incessant threats and capacity to destroy”, Awosegba said, “is what has demonised the unions in the eyes of the Nigeria public, where calls for government to put them in their place are now regularly mounting.”
Nigerian National Mirror
The activities of organised labour unions are largely responsible for the country’s smooth industrial relations, harmony and development. However, a recurring source of concern in the out gone year was the incessant and crippling industrial actions by unions. More strikes and protests are to be expected this year labour insists, MESHACK IDEHEN writes.
Workers in the nation’s health sector may have taken the lead for the position of being the first union to threaten and embark on a strike action in 2015.
Operating under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions and Assembly of Health Care Professional, JOHESU, the health workers, just like in previous years, wants the Federal Government to meet near impossible demands which the government is not willing to accede to.
By the middle of next month in the same vein, oil and gas workers under the auspices of National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASAN, may also embark on industrial action, if their numerous demands are not met by the government.
For civil servants under the umbrella of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, delayed and irregular salaries, coupled with stagnation in one position may the reason why they will embark on strike in the coming months.
These examples said watchers of Nigeria labour sector, represent the hard truth that 2015, like other years before it, will be a year of strikes protests and industrial action by organized labour in Nigeria.
They said challenging and pressing labour related issues aside that the Year 2014 (last year) has been defined by many labour and industrial relations practitioners as a year of agitations and unending industrial actions by the nation’s workers.
Including from analysts and experts, industry stakeholders in trying to quantify the cost of the incessant strikes, agitations, protest and lock down on the country’s economy, posit it was about time labour unions were proscribed and government more meticulous in signing labour and industrial relations agreements with them.
To other experts and stakeholders however, proscribing the labour union will not rescue the county from the clutches of frequent industrial action, since the governments at state and Federal levels also carry a large chunk of the blame for Nigeria’s poor industrial relations record.
A Workers’ Rights Activist, and President of Progressive Leaders Organisation International, (PLOI), Mr. Emmanuel Ezueme, told National Mirror that Nigeria is in the suffocating embrace of labour and industrial unions, and that the nonchalant attitude of Federal and state government will sooner than later put the country on the brink of irreversible economic collapse.
He said based on the present socio economic situation in the country that more strikes, protests and agitations by industrial unions are to be expected.
Recalling there were over 35 different strike actions by different unions in the outgoing year (2014) compared to the 26 of Year 2013, he said the drawback the country was experiencing is largely tied to three main unions; those in the oil and gas industry, those in the power sector, and those in the education, medical and allied employments sector.
He maintained that the oil and gas sector workers which operate under the auspices of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association, PENGASSAN, may be doing more disservice to the country than any good.
Ezueme said the recurring cases whereby oil and gas workers have perpetually held the nation and the petroleum sector in particular by the jugular as witnessed again in the last month of 2014 has led in part to the stillborn state of the Petroleum Industrial Bill (PIB) which even the oil and gas workers are clamouring for, years after it was first presented to the National Assembly for passage into law.
According to the labour activist, “Calls for proscription of labour unions are not misplaced, particularly when the suffering Nigerians are made to go through whenever the union’s strike is brought into consideration. The Academic Staff Union of Universities strike that just ended is still fresh in peoples’ mind”, Ezueme added.
Indeed, it would be recalled that Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, affiliate; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, only just recently called off a several month’s long strike, after the Federal Government agreed to meet some of the “hard conditions” they had reeled out.
Labour and industrial relations expert, Dr. Peter Okhiria, told our correspondent banning unions will not save the country from the grasps of recurring and toll taking industrial actions in 2015, but that it was time organised industrial unions change their approach when making demands of their employers, or negotiating with the government.
Citing instances of what he said is the never ending calls for strikes by those in the medical profession, Okhiria said the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, which regularly directs health workers in Federal hospitals to commence indefinite strike throughout Nigeria must tread cautiously in the coming years, if it is not to completely lose out in the goodwill of Nigerians.
As for the medical doctors under the umbrella of the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Okhiria said it behooves on them to prevail on health workers to consider other options before embarking on strike, instead of being the one calling for the strikes themselves.
National Mirror recalls that health workers in 2014 went on strikes severally over a number of demands that includes the non-skipping of salary Consolidated Health Salary Structure, CONHESS, 10, implementation of National Health Bill, consultancy and specialist allowances and call/ shift duty and other professional allowances, amongst other demands experts said can easily be addressed.
Berating ASUU over it long strike this year, author and management expert, Mr. Kunle Rotimi, told our correspondent the union should be the first industrial union to be proscribed, if ever the Federal Government decided to go ahead with its plans to create an alternative national labour center.
Rotimi said it was obvious that ASUU had other ulterior motives, apart from the quest to get adequate funding for education, even if the government was not too proactive in its dealings and negotiations with the union, saying the union has since lost the confidence and trust of most Nigerians, particularly parents.
Also calling for a more restrained approach on the part of the unions, Rotimi said it was the obstinate attitude of unions in the power sector that dragged the reforms of the power sector for many years.
According to him, the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Corporations, SSAEAC, contributed in no small measure to the epileptic power delivery in the country till date.
However, SSAEAC President, Mr. Bede Opara, refuted allegations that the union prolonged the reforms for several years, saying the interest and welfare of workers must be taken care of, before the reforms and privatization were completed.
Be that as it may, it is on record, said Human Resource Development Consultant, Mr. Tope Awosegba, that electricity workers union have proceeded or threatened to proceed on strike more than 10 times in this year alone, even after they have been privatized.
According to him, the latest threat for a nationwide blackout by electricity workers was in November when the unions threatened to stop the supply of electricity across the country if the Federal Government does not conclude of payment of workers entitlements to some of their members that were said to have been left out of recent payments.
“Such incessant threats and capacity to destroy”, Awosegba said, “is what has demonised the unions in the eyes of the Nigeria public, where calls for government to put them in their place are now regularly mounting.”
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