Dangote, PENGASSAN face-off: NECA warns of risks to jobs, investments

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

LAGOS — The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, NECA, has raised alarm implicit the ongoing enactment by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, informing that it constitutes self-help and amounts to economical sabotage susceptible of derailing Nigeria’s fragile economical recovery.

NECA, successful a connection issued successful Lagos by its Director-General, Mr. Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, called connected the Minister of Labour and Employment to urgently intervene, stressing that the dispute, if near unchecked, could person far-reaching consequences for occupation creation, concern promotion, and nationalist development.

According to the statement: “Conflict is an inevitable diagnostic of the labour ecosystem, and Nigeria has statutory and organization frameworks designed to code immoderate disputes, including the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) and the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). Any enactment susceptible of discouraging investment, undermining enterprises sustainability, oregon harming the workers that the unions assertion to support volition beryllium counter-productive. While commercialized unions person the morganatic close to embark connected concern action, specified rights indispensable beryllium exercised responsibly and wrong the bounds of the law.

“It is unacceptable for immoderate national to conscript oregon coerce those not funny successful its enactment oregon disrupt the operations of morganatic businesses not enactment to the dispute. Treating Institutions of labour medication with disdain and resorting to self-help is not lone absurd but besides against each known Conventions and Recommendations. When employers oregon workers are aggrieved, determination are Institutions created to adjudicate oregon arbitrate successful specified matters. Nigeria’s recovering system cannot beryllium sacrificed connected the altar of actions and pronouncements that are alien to planetary and section concern relations practice.

“Uninformed and disruptive actions that could jeopardise the nation’s economical endurance are neither envisaged nor acceptable successful planetary labour practice. NECA volition not beryllium a passive onlooker arsenic the instauration of Nigeria’s labour ecosystem is trampled upon. While we admit the close to strike, specified rights cannot infringe connected the rights of others oregon endanger the endurance of enterprises.”

Citing planetary labour instruments, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98, the NECA brag reaffirmed the association’s committedness to planetary labour standards, decent work, and liable concern conduct, portion insisting that the extortion afforded to national officials nether planetary conventions does not widen to sabotage, coercion, oregon actions that undermine morganatic businesses oregon endanger nationalist security.

Calling connected the Minister of Labour and Employment to enactment decisively, Oyerinde stated: “With Nigeria sending 1 of the highest delegations to the ILO Conference annually, it is funny that basal concern relations principles, Conventions, and Recommendations stay poorly applied.”

He urged that the quality beryllium resolved done lawful and constructive dialogue, informing that nonaccomplishment to enactment decisively could endanger economical sustainability, occupation instauration and preservation, concern attraction and promotion, arsenic good arsenic nationalist development.

The station Dangote, PENGASSAN face-off: NECA warns of risks to jobs, investments appeared archetypal connected Vanguard News.