Corruption has taken dangerous, damaging dimension —TUC President, Olaleye

Soji-Eze Fagbemi, who attended the 14th National Delegates’ Conference of Food and Beverage Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB) held at the weekend in Abuja reports the highlights of the event, which ended with the swearing-in of a new executive.

14th FOBTOB NDC

THE 14th National Delegates’ Conference of FOBTOB was a special one, according to the President of Trade Union Congress (TUC) and National President of FOBTOB, Comrade Quadri Olaleye. First, it was the first conference of the union to be held in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, while the  NDC took place at a time the COVID-19 pandemic had ravaged the workplace and the sector, specifically, had been badly affected. Besides, the country is facing its peculiar social-economic and political problems; chief among which is the security crisis.

Olaleye said the conference was so important because it was the highest policy-making organ of the association and provided the platform to critically assess the past, evaluate the present, and make projections into the future. It also provided room for amending the association’s constitution, making new rules, and electing new officers for the association.

He said: “The National Delegates Conference has special significance to me personally because I believe that the power of cohesive tripartism and solidarity keeps the trade union movement strong in readiness for fruitful negotiations. This conference presents an opportunity to deliberate on the myriads of problems confronting our industry and the nation at large. It also helps us to renew our avowed determination and commitment to work closely with the employers association on our common agenda.

“It is a forum to achieve our aspirations towards making decent work a growing reality for all workers, their families, and the communities.”

Achievements of Olaleye-led executives

The association, according to the outgoing president,  has visionary leaders, which can be attested to by the achievements recorded in the past. The incumbent national officers of the association have further built on the foundation and has also launched the name of the association into the spotlight in the comity of trade unions. The conditions of service of members improves significantly every two years as a result of the collective agreements on salaries and fringe benefits reached with the Association of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employers (AFBTE.). Recognizing this very important fact, Olaleye paid glowing tributes to the past leaders of the association.

He said: “As at present, the association now prides itself with hostels in three main locations in the country (east, north, and west) without placing an unnecessary financial burden on the members through contributions or a bank loan. The hostels are located in Kwara State University, Malete, with 26 rooms; Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, with 24 rooms; and the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, with 42 rooms.

“The payment of gratuity by an employer to its staff is one of the best labour practices expected in any standard employment relationship. This present administration prides itself as an employer that maintains a gratuity policy for its workers in reflection of the image of a typical 21st-century organization. However, FOBTOB as an organization does not only maintain gratuity but ensures that it was cashback following the recommendation of the Accounting Standard Board.”

For decades, he said, FOBTOB past leaders had coveted the exalted position of the President of TUC, saying, “I am glad to announce to you at this conference that the glass ceiling of 19 years was broken and I emerged as the President of the congress at the delegates conference held at NAF Conference Centre, Abuja on June 28, 2019. The success came unexpectedly and it was nothing but God-ordained. In addition to this, we have also increased our presence and commitment in TUC state councils across the federation by having officers in virtually all the states where our member companies are located.”

The state of the nation

The FOBTOB president said the last one and half year was full of turbulence as a result of the emergence and the spread of COVID-19 across the globe and this made this NDC a very unique one. Olaleye said: “The pandemic, no doubt, brought about enormous challenges in the public health and economic crisis which hampered governance and brought about the dramatic change in the world of work. I must say that the pandemic had taken away lives, crippled the world economy, Nigeria inclusive, restricted our movements and activities but as humans, the Almighty has preserved our lives, then our programmes must continue to hold as scheduled.”

State of the economy

From the last National Delegates’ Conference held in the year 2015, the nation’s economy cannot be said to have improved, Olaleye said. He added: “We are still saddled with the same issues of epileptic and in some cases, never existent power supply; bad roads resulting in terrible and exorbitant transportation system; insecurity in the forms of insurgency, kidnappings, banditry, assassinations, incessant protest against the ills in the society, infrastructural decay; corruption with impunity; blatant disregard for the rule of law by public office holders, etc.”

He stated that FOBTOB as an association could not turn a blind eye to the concerns regarding the functioning of the institutions charged with promoting and defending our democratic way of life. According to him, “We also are not comforted with the slow, but steady emergence of tentacles of authoritarianism in our society. We recognize a widening rift between the haves and have-nots in our country, which has plunged the nation into serious insecurity.

“Indeed, for a country generally acknowledged as the giant of Africa and blessed with natural resources, most especially crude oil, to have degenerated into a level at which it is now regarded as one of the impoverished countries with the quantum of her citizenry living below poverty level still beats our imaginations.”

Fuel subsidy and deregulation/price increase

The contentious issues around subsidy and deregulation of the downstream sector have led to the control of pump price by market forces and thus further plunged the nation into arbitrary price increase by the PPPRA and independent oil marketers. Against this background, Olaleye said: “The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) as an organization in one of our engagements with the Federal Government noted that it is heartbreaking that our refineries cannot produce what we consume locally but we have continued to devote the scarce foreign exchange towards the importation of refined products while funds were also set aside for the turnaround maintenance of moribund refineries. The speed at which the pump price is heading as crude oil price rebalances at the international market is worrisome.”

Corruption

Olaleye said the issue of corruption had taken a dangerous and damaging dimension, adding that almost all facets of our national life are affected, from pension scheme to power projects, petroleum sector, housing sector etc.

“Revelations every day show that the country is being milked dry by parasitic, avaricious, and self-centred elites. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), and the government seem overburdened by the complicated dimension corruption has assumed in the country,” he said.

Regrettably, he said “the anti-graft bodies cannot be said to be exempted. The political elite does not see governance as a serious business to be managed by being focused, disciplined, and as an undertaking for people who deeply and truly abhor corruption.”

The TUC president called on the government to ensure that the war against corruption should not be media propaganda but serious combat with the fraudulent people who have shared the commonwealth of Nigeria.

“The culpable ones should be punished and made to refund such ill-gotten wealth starting with the large-scale fraud in the petroleum sector,” he said.

Security situation in the country

According to Olaleye, the security situation in the country has deteriorated with the mindless killing of innocent and law-abiding Nigerians by elements of banditry. He advised that the government must strengthen all security agencies to not only make these elements face justice but also eradicate this misnomer from our national life. He said, “the government must live up to the challenge of ensuring that Nigerians are free and secure wherever they choose to live.”

Mass sack of workers/factory closure

Olaleye lamented the mass sack of workers by 24 companies and the closure of 10 companies in the sector due largely to the harsh economic situation. The FOBTOB president said: “It is no news that the COVID-19 pandemic spotlighted the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Industry as an engine room for boosting the National GDP. The hardworking members of the association defiled all odds to ensure that food items are made available to Nigerians during the lockdown. It was very unfortunate that despite the vantage position of this industry to our economical sustenance, it has not received 10 per cent of the attention given to other sectors of the economy.

“The production cost has gone up but nothing was done in terms of financial support and tax relief by the government to cushion the effects of this, rather, we are subjected to different bans ranging from accessibility of forex to import raw materials to forced backward integration. We are not opposed to backward integration in any form but its implementation was ill-timed as it has led to massive redundancy in our industry.

“I, on behalf of the teeming members of this association, am using this medium to draw the attention of the government to the food sector in particular, and we request that the government meets with our employers’ association for engagement on how to move the food sector forward and a means of finding the lasting solution to the problematic issue of de-industrialization of the country. Between the last delegates’ conference in 2015 and now, our industrial sector has witnessed redundancies in 24 companies that have members affiliated to our association. During the same period, 10 companies  were shut down and they were equally expunged from our book.”

The emergence of new executives

A new set of the union’s executives emerged and were swore in at the conference. The newly sworn-in executives are: Oyibo Jimoh, the national president; Adebayo Aderogba, deputy national president; Bunmi Adesanya, national treasurer; Lanre Yusuf, vice president west; Christopher Amadi, vice president east; Nasiru Musa Bichi, vice president north; Makinde Solomon, trustee north; Onyeabor Nwachukwu, trustee west; Obot Asuquo, trustee east; Quadri Olaleye, Buhari Isiaka, Sunday Oboeua, Mahdi Mohammed (all ex-officios); and Iyeye Peter, as the acting general secretary.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital…

Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train

The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…