The Federal Government yesterday said it has commenced steps to stamp out all manner of unfair labour practices in the banks and oil and gas sectors of the nation’s economy.
Some of the issues to be tackled include complaints of marginalisation by Nigerian oil workers, casualisation, technology transfer, abuse of expatriate quota and alleged sexual harassment and prostitution in the banks.
Addressing labour correspondents in Abuja on the new resolve by government to deal with the matter, the Minister of Labour, Dr. Hassan Muhammad Lawal, said his ministry in collaboration with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Employers Consultative Assembly (NECA) would flag off the sensitisation campaign in the banking sector from next Monday.
“I am calling on oil companies and banks to work with us in the ministry in the areas of promotion of workers, generating employment opportunities, promoting productivity consciousness within the oil and gas sector, health and safety at work places. They should collaborate with us in ensuring training and retraining of staff or development of human capital,” he said.
He said there are a number of reported cases of unfair labour practices, especially in the Nigerian oil and gas sector, and that the ministry has tried its best to investigate, to intervene and to resolve some of these cases.
” I want to call on the oil companies to ensure that these unfair labour practices are looked into and abolished”, he said.
The Minister said action will be taken to address the issue of abuse which many female bankers are subjected to by their employers who are in the practice of forcing them to secure deposits at all costs.
In this regard, Lawal said he will be leading other social partners, NLC, TUC and NECA to a sensitization programme at the premises of the Unity Bank Plc. in Abuja on Monday.
According to the programme of the campaign issued by the Ministry yesterday, after the official flag-off in Abuja, the remaining 24 banks in Lagos will be visited by the joint task force.
The Minister stated that the another area that would be pursued with increased vigour is the attainment of local content aspiration by oil companies.
“The truth is that every year the National Assembly appropriate billions, for the joint venture activities of the oil companies. While Nigerian contributes 60% under the JV operational agreement, the oil majors contribute 40%. But the question has always been out of that money we expend after appropriation what is the percentage of it that goes to ensure local content”, he said.
He said the meaning of local content to the Ministry of Labour is not when two or three companies benefit from contracts from Mobil or Shell oil companies or when 10 Nigerians are employed either at the management level or other cadres but we believe that any local content that does not ensure transfer of technology to Nigerians is not local content by any definition.
“We also believe any local content that does not have substantial impute within the local labour market is not local content. In other words, what we believe is that out of those billions that are appropriated by the National Assembly for the of the activities of the oil companies some substantial percentage should be deployed to the local manufacturing sector in the country to manufacture basic items needed in the oil and gas sector”, he said.
Aug112007