All Posts in "Labour/Human Resources"

Unemployment:Employers Wants Increased Support For SMEs

Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association seeks platform to build industrial relations – WorldStage
The Nigeria Employers Consultative Association,NECA,has urged urged the Federal Government to refocus its efforts at supporting organised businesses to increase their production capacities, and to support micro, small and medium enterprises to enable growth from bottom up.
Its Director-General,Mr Timothy Olawale, who gave the advice in a statement said a critical impact-audit of current interventions should be made to determine their effectiveness and relevance in the context of current realities.
He expressed concern  over  the growing unemployment rate as released by the National Bureau of Statistics,saying the figures  were worrisome and expected.
According to him, the fundamental issues arising from COVID-19 and its negative effects on businesses had not been addressed sufficiently, despite initiatives put in place by the government.
He added:“While the figure showed that the unemployment crisis is worsening at an alarming rate, it is also instructive to note that the socioeconomic factors that increased the figure to 27 per cent in the last NBS release remains.
“The recent economic recession has exacerbated the unemployment rate as major sectors of the economy have stagnated with negative growth, though the nation exited recession in February 2021.”
He said many businesses had yet to recover from the pandemic effects as insecurity had caused many in the Northern region to close shop.
He stated  that access to critical foreign exchange to import inputs was low while the regulatory environment remained largely unfriendly.
Online Editor by — March 18, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0
Stiffer Sanction Awaits  Promoters Of Child Labour-Senate 

Senate Seeks 1% VAT to Compensate Riot-ravaged StatesTHISDAYLIVE
The  Senate has  commenced moves  to review the Labour Act to provide stiffer penalties not only for modern slavery, but also child labour and discrimination against women at work place.
The “Labour Act Amendment Bill 2020”,which was sponsored by  Senator Ezenwa Francis Onyewuchi and  sought to introduce stiffer penalties to punish employers who deny female employees maternity protection and discriminate against women during employment to fill positions in underground work or mines.
He said the  bill seeks to amend the present fines for his offences in the Labour Act which are now obsolete and bring them in line with modern realities.”
He added: “the present fines for offenses in the Nigerian Labour Act are obsolete in context and content. The sanction, penalty and interest payable under the Act are ridiculously low and do not reflect current economic realities.
“These current provisions cannot provide the needed protection for workers in the labour market. There is therefore a need to review these penalties/fines upwards in order to achieve fair and harmonious employee relations.”
 The bill  scaled second reading on the floor during plenary session on Tuesday.
 Specifically Section 21 of the bill proposed a fine of N500,000 and N1,000,000 from the present fine of N800 and N500 for first and second offences relating to “Breach of terms and conditions of employment”, as it relates to the wage hour, nature of employment, leave, contracts of employment, among others.
The amendment bill in Section 46 also proposed a new fine in the sum of N500,000 as against N500 for neglect or ill treatment of workers by employers; N500,000 and N1,000,000 for recruitment of employees without an employee’s permit or recruiters license in the new Section 47, as against the present Fine of N200 for first offence and N2000 for second or subsequent offences.
On the other hand, Section 53 in the amendment bill sought an increase in fine from N500 for first offence and N200 for second or subsequent offences to N300,000 and N200,000 for inducement of apprentice to leave service of employment.
In another upward review of penalties, Section 58 proposed the sum of N200,000 and N100,000 for Denial of maternity protection and employment of women in underground work or mines in contrast with the Present Fine of N200 for first offence and N100 for second or subsequent offences.
Besides,Section 64 was reviewed by proposing a stiffer fine of N200,000 as against the present N100 for  employment of young persons in unreasonable circumstances .
The  legislation was amended in Sections 67 and 68 by proposing a fine of N250,000 as against N1,500 for breach of regulations of the Minister as they relate to Labour health areas and registration of employers.
In addition, the amendment bill in Section 72 reviewed the fines for offenses committed by persons with intent to deceive in the employment of labour from N1000 for first offence and N500 for second or subsequent offences to N300,000 and N200,000, respectively.
The bill proposed stiffer penalties to Section 73 to address forced labour by reviewing upward the present fine of N1000 for first offence and N200 for second or subsequent offences to N300,000 and N200,000.
Online Editor by — March 17, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0
23.18m Nigerians Jobless – NBS

‌The National Bureau of Statistics has said  that 23.19 million Nigerians are currently jobless.
Unemployment rate  increased 27.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 to 33.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, the bureau  said
in its report on ‘Labour force Statistics: Unemployment and underemployment report- Abridged labour force survey under COVID-19 (Q4, 2020) .
It said:“During the reference period, the computed national unemployment rate rose from 27.1 per cent in Q2, 2020 to 33.3 per cent in Q4, 2020, while the underemployment rate decreased from 28.6 per cent to 22.8 per cent.
“A combination of both the unemployment and underemployment rate for the reference period gave a figure of 56.1 per cent.
“This means that 33.3 per cent of the labour force in Nigeria or 23,187,389 persons either did nothing or worked for less than 20 hours a week, making them unemployed by our definition in Nigeria.
“This is an additional 1,422,772 persons from the number in that category in Q2, 2020.Using the international definition of unemployment, the rate was computed to be 17.5 per cent.”
The report added  that unemployment rate was highest for persons in the labour force between the ages of 15-24 with 53.4 per cent and 25-34 with 37.0 per cent, which represents the youth population in Nigeria.
According to the report,unemployment and underemployment was higher for women than men in the fourth quarter of 2020.
It said:“Female unemployment was highest among the genders with 35.2 per cent while male was 31.8 per cent during the reference period.A similar case was recorded for underemployment, 24.2 per cent was reported for females, while males reported an under-employment rate of 21.8 per cent.”
In the case of unemployment by state, Imo State recorded the highest rate of unemployment with 56.64 per cent.
This was followed by Adamawa with 54.89 per cent and Cross Rivers State with 53.65 per cent.
The states with the lowest rates were Osun, Benue and Zamfara States with 11.65 per cent, 11.98 per cent and 12.99 per cent respectively.
Online Editor by — March 16, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0
We Are Not Recruiting-Chevron

Chevron - 76-274 Lako St, Kailua Kona, HI 96740 - TrumpetRatings.com
Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), operator of the NNPC/CNL Joint Venture, is aware of the circulation of false recruitment and contract information posted by unscrupulous persons and organizations in the name of CNL in several media and online channels, advertising job positions and contracts in CNL.
Besides, fraudulent job and contract offers have reportedly been sent through emails, text messages and phone calls by individuals purporting to be staff or representatives of CNL, with the intent to defraud their victims.
“CNL hereby dissociates itself from such false job recruitment and contract information, published in any newspaper, web site, email, poster, handbill or any other medium. CNL did not make or authorize such publications”, the company said on Wednesday
The General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs of CNL, Esimaje Brikinn, stated that: “Members of the public are hereby notified that Chevron Nigeria Limited does not, and will not require applicants to make any payments towards processing any job application or contract awards. Recruitment advertisements requesting candidates to pay money, at any point during the recruitment process, are not from CNL.”
He also explained that CNL does not solicit job applications or initiate recruitment processes through emails, posters, handbills, text messages, social media or phone calls.
He advised job seekers to always check the company’s website at http:/www.careers.chevron.com and national newspapers for job advertisements from CNL.
He  affirmed that his company will not respond to enquiries about fraudulent advertisements and job offers or contract awards.
Online Editor by — March 10, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0
Labour Worried Over  Non Domestication of ILO Convention On Gender Based Violence 

Nigeria Labour Congress - Wikipedia
The Nigeria Labour congress (NLC) has criticized the federal government for allegedly failing to domesticate the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 which discourages Gender Based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) in work places.
Presenting a paper at a virtual workshop for labour reporters,the  Head of Department, Women and Youth, NLC, Comrade Rita Goyit while presenting a paper, said despite making commitment to ratify the convention, the federal government is yet to keep its promise.
She  maintained that  Nigeria stands  to gain a lot by ratifying the convention , stressing that it will make work places free from violence and harassment and will also boost productivity. She said it will also put Nigeria on the list of countries that promote human rights.
According to her:  “In 2019, when the International Labour Convention 190 was adopted in Geneva, the Nigerian government made a commitment that it will be among the first countries to ratify and also domesticate the Convention, but that is yet to be done.”
 She lamented that by not ratifying the convention 190, most workers both in formal and informal economy who suffer gender based violence and harassment (GBVH) find it difficult to express themselves and suffer in silence while the perpetrators walk free.
The Deputy Chairperson, National Women Commission, NLC , Hajia Salamatu Aliu shared how NLC has  been leading various campaigns to encourage women to speak up against GBVH and break the culture of silence society condones around GBVH.
She revealed  that the campaign will be sustained until government and employers do the needful to protect women in Nigeria.
Speaking earlier, the Country Program Director for Solidarity Centre AFL-CIO,   Sonny Ogbuehi commended the media for their partnership and asked that they join their voices in the campaign against GBVH.
According to him, the media has a critical role to play in ensuring that issues of Gender Based Violence and Harassment at work places are brought to the front burner.
The Senior Program Officer, Solidarity Center AFL-CIO, Nkechi Odinukwe, also revealed how  gender based violence and harassment is affected and often worsened by cultural, economic, ideological, political, social, environmental and health factors like displacement, armed conflict, terrorism, migration and increased globalization of economic activities.
Online Editor by — March 8, 2021 in Labour/Human Resources 0