20. (1) In the event of redundancy-

(a) the employer shall inform the trade union or workers' representative concerned of the reasons for and the extent of the anticipated redundancy;

(b) the principle of "last in, first out" shall be adopted in the discharge of the particular category of workers affected, subject to all factors of relative merit, including skill, ability and reliability; and

(c) the employer shall use his best endeavours to negotiate redundancy payments to any discharged workers who are not protected by regulations made under subsection (2) of this section.

(2) The Minister may make regulations providing, generally or in particular cases, for the compulsory payment of redundancy allowances on the termination of a worker's employment because of his redundancy.

(3) In this section "redundancy" means an involuntary and permanent loss of employment caused by an excess of manpower.

(6) No contract shall-

(a) make it a condition of employment that a worker shall or shall not join a trade union or shall or shall not relinquish membership of a trade union; or

(b) cause the dismissal of, or otherwise prejudice, a worker-
(i) by reason of trade union membership, or
(ii) because of trade union activities outside working hours or, with the consent of the employer, within working hours, or
(iii) by reason of the fact that he has lost or been deprived of membership of a trade union or has refused or been unable to become, or for any other reason is not, a member of a trade union.

thesicilian:
It is very sad that in Nigeria, the employee is forever at the mercy of his or her boss. The boss makes unexplained deductions from your salary, keeps you at work beyond official working hours, delays your salary for as much as 2 to 3months without even feeling the need to notify you before hand. But if you even as much as complain or raise up the issue before him, you're either ordered back to your office (if you're even lucky to have one) with the threat of a sack, or sacked outrightly. This has got to stop.

Unfortunately the same Nigerians being fought for have been taking a swipe at the honourable minister and the present government for this threats. Hauling all manner of attacks on the present government and the minister. It even degenerated to political party attacks. Was Ngige wrong in his assertions?

989900:


This already summarized everything.

BTW, the governments spent billion bailing out same banks some years ago which they are yet to repay.

Government monies have been largely funding the banks for years -- you can call the government, 'shareholders'.

The government has turned a blind eye to all their fraudulent activities for years.

The government is asking them to exercise patience for things to turn around, or compensate the employees adequately as stipulated by the law, if they will be fired; not just use and dump them.

But everything these days has to take a political/sentimental turn.

koboko69:
Modath passingshot omenka demdem dropshot quotasystem
Mynd44 seun 989900 malcolmx et all. Your honourable contributions are needed here

PassingShot:

I salute your efforts at unearthing the facts. Let's hear what those who called the Labour Minister names say to this.

Just as you submitted, it's unbelievably absurd that it's same Nigerians the government is fighting for that are castigating the Labour Minister, just because of politics.

That banks have been allowed to get away with their incessant sackings in the past doesn't mean they will be allowed to continue on that "slave treatment" habit in the new Nigeria we all hope for. Kudos to the FG and the Labour Minister.

Lalasticlala, Mynd44, this is a front page material.

koboko69:


Imagine one Nairalander even asked me if a gun was put to their heads before signing the contract in the first place. And i was shocked at such mental slavery. So because some of these employers are taking advantage of the fact no one is checking their activities, put in some wicked and callous conditions in ur contract .....does that make it right?

I remember a case of a friend with FCMB, he was to pau 2 iom to the bank, should he resign before 2 years. Somehow, his salary was slashed along the line, and he got VISA to travel out of the country, so he resigned before 2 years. The lawyers of FCMB then started writing him requesting for 2 million naira, fortunately his father is a sound SAN, after research, he simply wrote them back, that they already breached the contract first by slashing his salary, and since he didn't sign any new undertaken with them on the new salary, the previous contract is already void. That was the last time he heard from them

modath:


99% of the ignoramuses castigating Ngige are only doing it out of deep seated bias and angst, deep in their hearts they know the right thing but unnecessary hate won't let them see clearly..

There are laid down procedures to things like this & they ought to be followed to the letter..

Most employers in the country have turned themselves to tin gods because they've been made to think themselves as being above the law or can't be questioned... NLC has shirked its duty and responsibilities to the masses..

Just this past week, Ngige had to wade into the crises at the Federal Ministry of Health and he resolved it to the delight of the staff who wanted the Perm Sec removed since she had turned herself into a tin goddess because of strong political backing....

IsraeliAIRFORCE:
You are right. However, the Federal Government set the precedence when they disengaged thousands from custom to immigration to DSS and so many other agencies and parastatals without recourse to the same Labour laws you cited.
FG can't be lawless and at same time wants others to comply. Things don't work that way.

koboko69:
Today, u wake up 4am in the morning, have your bath, prepare the kids, spend hours in the traffic, get to work, settle down, only for u to log on, and see your password have been disabled. You have been sacked!!!! And every one seems comfortable with this development. At the end of the year, they declare mind blowing profits.
They employ as a contract staff, pay you as a contract staff, you work as a full staff,make money for them as a full staff, then when they are done using u, they sack u as a slave staff.

If you are one of those who insulted Ngige, a big Shame on you!

If licenses are withdrawn, doesn't necessarily mean mass sack...ask me how?

koboko69:


Which thousands where disengaged? The last time i checked, those disengaged where either disengaged for illegal recruitment, or for corruption or disciplinary purposes.When it comes to labour law, we have to give it to thr government, weather PDP or APC, they abide by it to a fault. The main problem is usually from the private sector.

IsraeliAIRFORCE:


What kind of unenlightened reply is this?

I thought you had the interest of workers welfare at heart hence my solidarity but unfortunately you are after politics and vainglory.

obailala:
Just over the weekend, I was in an argument with a rabid buhari government hater who was so pissed and couldn't fathom what right the government had to ask private businesses not to sack workers they employed themselves; she tagged it pure foolishness on the part of Ngige and the entire FG apparatus. I tried hard to explain how a govt has the right to regulate certain things under labour laws, I even cited some examples from foreign countries and asked what side she was even on (the masses or the banks or just anti-govt). But she wouldn't take any of it, I was hardly even allowed to speak all through the argument and by all Nigerian argument standards, she won the argument based on the sheer volume of words she churned out per second.

Such arguments is typically what you get when people allow sentiments and emotions take over their objectivity.

koboko69:
Many Nigerians where awakened with a rude shock from the minister of labour and employment threatening to withdraw the licenses of banks who failed to obey the directives of the government on mass sack and come to the negotiation table.

It is a pity that, political differences, tribal and ethno religious hates have really beclouded the sound reasoning of many Nigerians. The honourable minister clearly stated and i qoute

“The federal government gave the licences to the banks to operate and if its directives are not adhered to the licences will be withdrawn if the need arises,” he said.

“We will go a step further if they continue. We know what to do. They need to comply. They need to come to the negotiation table. We halted the spate of sack in the oil industry and we succeeded.

“Even if you are going to lay off, there is a way to declare redundancy, there is a process. Section 20 of the labour act says it. You must call the unions and discuss with them. You don’t just treat them as slaves in their own country and you want us to keep quiet.

Unfortunately the same Nigerians being fought for have been taking a swipe at the honourable minister and the present government for this threats. Hauling all manner of attacks on the present government and the minister. It even degenerated to political party attacks. Was Ngige wrong in his assertions?

Lets take a look section 20 of Nigeria Labour Act.




Did any of the banks follow any of the processes outlined in the Labour Act?

As a matter of fact many Banks have even cowered their sraffs into a position where they are not allowed to form any union or join any union within their establishment. Many Nigerians workers don't even know this is very wrong.

Lets take a look at Section 9 subsection 6 of the Nigeria Labour Act.


Now my question is are private sectors exempted from the Nigeria Labour Act? A big NO, both private and public sectors are bounded by the Law.

Many Nigerian workers don't even know there rights are being trampled upon by their employers. If you go through all the contents of the Labour Act, you will be amazed at how much your rights have been trampled on. Unfortunately it is already a way of life, that even when a minister tries to correct the abnormally, the slavery mentality kicks in, the political differences kicks in, the hypocritical hate kicks in, and the whole process is stalled again.

Enough of hiding under the guise of scaring investors away. Any investor who have good intentions for Nigeria and her citizens, and are not coming to milk/use and enslave Nigerians will not be scared because of threats or sanctions occasioned by laid down laws being flouted. They knew the law before the came to invest. These investors abide by the laws in other countries and come to Nigeria to turnher citizens to slaves in their own country.

NIGERIANS, ENOUGH OF THIS SLAVERY MENTALITY!

Read the full Labour Act here:
http://www.nigeria-law.org/LabourAct.htm

Please Note; This applies to all private sector. I only used the banks as a case study because of the honourable minister's threat to withdraw licenses of defaulting banks.

adaweezy:

Can I republish your article elsewhere?