April 19, 2010
Most Newspapers reported two days ago that the National Security Adviser Lieutenant General Aliyu Gusau [rtd] raised serious concern that the anti-graft fight in Nigeria has become weak operationally and that the heads of these institutions have come under grave allegations of misconduct. When I read this piece of news, one thing that came to my mind is the fact that if an insider could also raise his voice to complain about the diminishing and very weak anti-graft fight by the Farida Waziri-led Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent Corrupt Practices and allied offences Commission [ICPC] barely six days after this columnist took time to analyse the same development in the two anti-graft agencies and especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC], it therefore means that we are in a very big problem.
First I must commend the National Security Adviser for raising his voice so strongly and courageously when it mattered most to comment on the rots afflicting the anti-graft agencies. It is therefore very imperative that the Acting President Dr. Good Luck Jonathan should not spare a thought in immediately sweeping aside the Chairman of the near-moribund Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and look for a vibrant patriotic anti-corruption fighter even from within the commission who is not tainted politically and who has no political attachments and baggage to re-invent, rejuvenate and revitalize the fight against corruption because if we do not tackle big time corruption especially the large scale looting by Political office holders of massive public funds and to probe verifiable allegations of involvement of some top-flight personalities in Nigeria in international bribery schemes like the Halliburton bribery case, then Nigeria is doomed. The national Security Adviser also made some very hard opinion and assertions about the now lack lustre and seemingly vindictive and directionless reforms in the nation’s banking industry spearheaded by the Central Bank Governor and I think the views raised concerning the ongoing reforms in the Banks are debatable going by the fact that the Chief Spy of the Country who is in the right position to know has passed a vote- of - no -confidence on the job of the Central Bank even when some observers say that the reforms succeeded in exposing those bad business executives in Nigeria whose stock in trade is to conspire with corrupt bank executives to borrow huge sums of depositors’ funds without any genuine intention to repay. I think the reforms in the banking industry has achieved one big purpose of exposing the decay in the industry but again the allegation raised by the National Security Adviser that the Central Bank Governor was selective in choosing the Banks to punish and the ones to spare the big rod goes to show Nigerians that after all Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is not a saint and that he is a true Nigerian to the core. By calling him a true Nigerian I do not intend to denigrate the essence of our citizenship but any good Nigerian knows what we mean when you say that a particular person is a true Nigerian to the core.
Well, this column today is not about the dying anti-graft agencies nor is it about the controversial banking reforms initiated and actively carried out by the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria but is about the issue of alleged anti-labour practices in some big companies like the notorious Transcorp Hilton, a hotel located in the heart of the nation’s capital and is erroneously regarded as one of the best hotels in Nigeria. I am also concerned about casualisation of workers in other multi-national companies in the oil industry and in most firms owned and run by foreigners who are notorious for treating their Nigerian workers as slaves. Two days ago, the Daily Trust ran a story that oil workers are battling Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC] over the same bad labour practices of retaining some Nigerians working for them as casuals. A casual worker is a non-permanent staff of a company who can be treated as a slave and can be sacked without warning or compensation any time the employer is tired of seeing his or her face. In Shell, the oil workers’ union under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and natural Gas Workers [NUPENG], Lagos chapter issued a 7-day ultimatum threatening to embark on an indefinite strike should the management not do anything to redress the cases of casualisation of their work force. The oil workers’ Union decried the magnitude of these evil anti-labour practices and called for immediate and comprehensive remedial processes to stop these inhuman and grave abuses of the human rights of these Nigerians. I think something urgent has to be done by both the Federal minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Ngozichineke Wogu and that of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke to ensure that casualisations in all shapes and dimensions in the Nigerian labour market are abrogated by law and heavy penalties spelt out for violators. Treating some category of staff as casuals is the same thing as practicing apartheid policies and these evil practices must be abolished clearly in Nigeria because if Government and the National Assembly continue to watch Nigerians being maltreated like slaves by foreign business executives operating and carting huge profits to their Countries of origin from Nigeria even while treating our citizen with disdain, then we may continue to be regarded as a country of unserious people in the international community. Treating certain category of workers as casuals is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several sections of chapter four in the Nigerian 1999 constitution especially the respect to human dignity. In Transcorp Hilton, most workers who are casuals are usually dismissed at periods when sales decline and activities are on the low side and immediately business picks up another batch of casuals are recruited and the process of discarding the previous casual workers like a pack of cards is usually done in such a way that if you are one of those affected, you will immediately think that your world has come to an end since your employer does not see anything good in you. The Minister of Labour must carry out his pledge to wage unrelenting war against casualisation in the private sector of the Nigerian economy. He should also look at the banking sector because many bank workers are casuals and their female marketers are used as prostitutes to attract funds. Very sad.
+Onwubiko is with Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.
First I must commend the National Security Adviser for raising his voice so strongly and courageously when it mattered most to comment on the rots afflicting the anti-graft agencies. It is therefore very imperative that the Acting President Dr. Good Luck Jonathan should not spare a thought in immediately sweeping aside the Chairman of the near-moribund Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and look for a vibrant patriotic anti-corruption fighter even from within the commission who is not tainted politically and who has no political attachments and baggage to re-invent, rejuvenate and revitalize the fight against corruption because if we do not tackle big time corruption especially the large scale looting by Political office holders of massive public funds and to probe verifiable allegations of involvement of some top-flight personalities in Nigeria in international bribery schemes like the Halliburton bribery case, then Nigeria is doomed. The national Security Adviser also made some very hard opinion and assertions about the now lack lustre and seemingly vindictive and directionless reforms in the nation’s banking industry spearheaded by the Central Bank Governor and I think the views raised concerning the ongoing reforms in the Banks are debatable going by the fact that the Chief Spy of the Country who is in the right position to know has passed a vote- of - no -confidence on the job of the Central Bank even when some observers say that the reforms succeeded in exposing those bad business executives in Nigeria whose stock in trade is to conspire with corrupt bank executives to borrow huge sums of depositors’ funds without any genuine intention to repay. I think the reforms in the banking industry has achieved one big purpose of exposing the decay in the industry but again the allegation raised by the National Security Adviser that the Central Bank Governor was selective in choosing the Banks to punish and the ones to spare the big rod goes to show Nigerians that after all Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is not a saint and that he is a true Nigerian to the core. By calling him a true Nigerian I do not intend to denigrate the essence of our citizenship but any good Nigerian knows what we mean when you say that a particular person is a true Nigerian to the core.
Well, this column today is not about the dying anti-graft agencies nor is it about the controversial banking reforms initiated and actively carried out by the Sanusi Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria but is about the issue of alleged anti-labour practices in some big companies like the notorious Transcorp Hilton, a hotel located in the heart of the nation’s capital and is erroneously regarded as one of the best hotels in Nigeria. I am also concerned about casualisation of workers in other multi-national companies in the oil industry and in most firms owned and run by foreigners who are notorious for treating their Nigerian workers as slaves. Two days ago, the Daily Trust ran a story that oil workers are battling Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC] over the same bad labour practices of retaining some Nigerians working for them as casuals. A casual worker is a non-permanent staff of a company who can be treated as a slave and can be sacked without warning or compensation any time the employer is tired of seeing his or her face. In Shell, the oil workers’ union under the aegis of the National Union of Petroleum and natural Gas Workers [NUPENG], Lagos chapter issued a 7-day ultimatum threatening to embark on an indefinite strike should the management not do anything to redress the cases of casualisation of their work force. The oil workers’ Union decried the magnitude of these evil anti-labour practices and called for immediate and comprehensive remedial processes to stop these inhuman and grave abuses of the human rights of these Nigerians. I think something urgent has to be done by both the Federal minister of Labour and Productivity Chief Emeka Ngozichineke Wogu and that of Justice Mohammed Bello Adoke to ensure that casualisations in all shapes and dimensions in the Nigerian labour market are abrogated by law and heavy penalties spelt out for violators. Treating some category of staff as casuals is the same thing as practicing apartheid policies and these evil practices must be abolished clearly in Nigeria because if Government and the National Assembly continue to watch Nigerians being maltreated like slaves by foreign business executives operating and carting huge profits to their Countries of origin from Nigeria even while treating our citizen with disdain, then we may continue to be regarded as a country of unserious people in the international community. Treating certain category of workers as casuals is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and several sections of chapter four in the Nigerian 1999 constitution especially the respect to human dignity. In Transcorp Hilton, most workers who are casuals are usually dismissed at periods when sales decline and activities are on the low side and immediately business picks up another batch of casuals are recruited and the process of discarding the previous casual workers like a pack of cards is usually done in such a way that if you are one of those affected, you will immediately think that your world has come to an end since your employer does not see anything good in you. The Minister of Labour must carry out his pledge to wage unrelenting war against casualisation in the private sector of the Nigerian economy. He should also look at the banking sector because many bank workers are casuals and their female marketers are used as prostitutes to attract funds. Very sad.
+Onwubiko is with Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria.
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