SAN FRANCISCO, June 13, (THEWILL) – Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige, has carpeted the Director-General of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Dr. Segun Osinowo, over the directive issued to management of banks to disregard the directive of the federal government that they should stop retrenchment of workers.
THEWILL recalls that Oshinowo, last weekend, declared that the labour law did not empower the minister to issue such a directive, which he considered uninformed and populist adding that the minister seems not to have shown understanding of the fundamentals of industrial relations and labour laws.
Responding, Ngige, in a statement signed by Ministry spokesman, Samuel Olowookere, said the reaction of Osinowo to government directives pending the outcome of a conciliatory meeting and stakeholder’s summit billed for the first week of July “is not only irresponsible and thoughtless but a bland knee jerk reaction borne out of self service and un-patriotism.”
“Any reaction that tends to hamstrung the intervention by government in any sector of the economy in the overall interest of all Nigerians, by invoking a sudden rigid stricture to free market rules, is an overarching absurdity,” the statement read.
“If government has been intervening, and shall continue to intervene to save banks and allied institutions, even the aviation industry, in times of distress without allowing the free market rules to solely reign, therefore forcing some of them to go under, the same government can equally make minimum demands from this private sector in the overall interests of the nation. Our authority in this instance is not only statutory but also moral.
“Therefore, we wish to state clearly once more, that the intention of government rather than being punitive on these financial institutions is to safeguard national interest by staving off unnecessary job losses and hence avert its real and potential threat to the already fragile security situation and stability of the nation.
“Government intention is guided by the fact that there are clear alternatives to the abrasive lay off of thousands of workers especially in the background of non-compliance with laid down rules on redundancy as clearly enunciated in our labour laws.”
Story by David Oputah
