Comrade Sunday Salako, President of the Association
of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial
Institutions (ASSBIFI), and first Deputy President,
Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) sees
outsourcing and casualisation of jobs and services as
satanic influences and means of enslaving Nigerians
by employers of labour in the country. Salako in this
interview with Senior Correspondent, Sylvester
Enoghase , urged the Federal Government to
sanction companies that engage in such practices,
while urging government to revamp the agro sector
which has the potentials to create massive
employment for our teeming population. Excerpt

Assess the current reforms in the banking
sector so far?

I will look at it from two perspectives. Yes, if you are
looking at it generally, like a stakeholder in the
industry or a Nigerian, I would say that the reform
has been good. It’s a welcome development because
it has been able to instill discipline and sanity into
our system. The recklessness of the past is no longer
prevailing now.
But on the other hand as a labour activist, it has
come at a very high cost. And any reform that is
geared towards cutting jobs is not a good reform, no
matter how good the intention is. Yes, because you
are solving one problem to cause another
monumental problem elsewhere. Look at the social
implication; you take away peoples’ jobs and there is
a problem on the social template. That is why you
see rising wave of crime everywhere. As I said before,
the reform has come at a great cost and has the
ability to impact negatively on the nation’s polity.

How has outsourcing and casualisation
affected the banking industry?

Outsourcing and casualisation are satanic influences.
They are like ill winds that blow us no good. I have
always said it… They are alien to this country.
Anybody that encourages casualisation and
outsourcing in Africa is satanic. The person should be
examined, because in Africa, for instance, for every
man that works, there are 10 or 12 or thereabout to
feed. It (casualisation) can work in Europe, because
of the type of life they live-it is me and my
immediate family, nobody else. You do not have
extended families. You can even decide not to greet
your brother.
But here in Africa, because of our communal way of
living, for every one that works, no fewer than 10
persons feed from one person.
So, if you casualise people and do it the way we do it
here, it is satanic. Here, you have two people working
in an environment; they have gone to the same
school probably, they have the same qualification,
and so on because he/she is a permanent staff and
the other unfortunate to be a casual staff, the
disparity in their salary is so wide. That is bad.

Are you saying that the gap cannot be
bridged?

Yes, the gap in salary disparity between the
permanent staff and casual is too wide to be
bridged. If, for instance, your company as a
newspaper company, decide to engage me and my
job is not part of your core operations, then you can
ask somebody to supply me to you. But you must
pay me or you ensure that man pays me what you
also pay your permanent staff. It is then that you can
say casualisation is okay. But casualization that is
enslaving people today is not a good omen for us.
China Civil Engineering and Construction
Company (CCECC) reportedly employs 20,000
Nigerian workers, 35 of who are senior staff,
and 1000 Chinese expatriates from China.
What is your take on this?
There is a saying that the person that pays the piper
dictates the tune. You are aware that China recently
gave Nigeria grants and when country brings such
grants, the Government determines what to use the
money for. And they bring in companies of China
origin which will execute those projects.
In effect, they are not giving you anything. So, if
CCECC recruits 20, 000 and only 35 of them are
senior staff, they are even very benevolent. The
people, who brought them here, never cared whether
they enslave us.
You can go to Ogba industrial estate in Ikeja, and see
what goes on there, they lock up our youths from
6am to 6pm; no food, no water. They work for 13
hours every day and they are paid between N7000
and N10, 000 every month; people who should be
engaged in productive activities to galvanize our
economy.
It is unfortunate that government allows these
foreign companies to enslave our youths. They create
slave camps and those who are supposed to regulate
their activities are looking elsewhere because they
are the ones fronting for those companies that abuse
our laws. If you have a government that is reckless
or lacks the political will to enforce its own laws, then
you have this kind of problem.

What can be done to change the mono-product
nature of the Nigerian economy?

We have said it over and over, that Nigerians are not
lazy. Before the advent of oil, Nigeria had a highly
successful agro-based economy. There were cocoa
plantations of the defunct Western Nigeria, the oil
palm plantations of the East and the famous
groundnut pyramids of Kano, including rubber. They
all typified agricultural sufficiency as well as a fruitful
nation In fact, those entire landmarks one can point
at; namely, the Cocoa House, and WNTV (Western
Nigerian Television, which is) the first television
station in Africa, among others, were built or
established from the proceeds of cocoa and kola
nuts.
As the years rolled by, Nigeria began to move away
from farming and depended on petroleum products
as our major foreign exchange earner and very little
attention was paid to the agricultural sector. It began
to dwindle. The groundnut pyramids collapsed, just
as the cocoa and oil palm plantations vanished or
rather dropped significantly to a subsistent level.
We must go back to the basics. Agriculture is the
only way. But we must invest massively in
infrastructure. Power supply must be steady. The
roads must be rehabilitated and then leave Nigerians
to perform the magic. We do it elsewhere. Go to other
countries and see what Nigerians are doing. The
environment here is simply not conducive.
Government should concentrate on two things alone
and see how this economy will develop.
Government must revamp the agro sector which has
the potentials to create massive employment for our
teeming population. It is gratifying to note that
successive government over the years had made
funding for agro allied investments easier to access,
with extension services provided to farmers at highly
subsidized rates to ensure heavy yields at harvest
time. Agric banks are set up, to make loans available
to farmers, just as fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides
and planting technologies are provided at subsidized
rates by the government.

As a labour leader, what is your advice for the
nation’s unemployed youths?

My advice to young Nigerians is to return to farming,
rather than roaming the cities looking for white collar
jobs that are not there in the first place.


www.dailyindependentnig.com/2013/08/employment-outsourcing-casualisation-are-satanic-influences-salako/

Please Moderators, this should make front page pls...
I really like what Salako is saying because most banks, telecom companies like Airtel,MTN, Etisalat make so much use of contract staff meanwhile they make so much money here in Nigeria.
I think all these foreign companies in Nigeria must take every graduate as a permanent staff not contract.
Our governmebt will say they don't want to look into it in the name of attracting more investors. You are attracting investors that their operatiions do not favour the masses, it that good?
If you go to other countries who do not even have half of Nigerian resources, if you want to establish business there, they'll give you their conditions, some will tell you that 75% or more of your workforce (not contract)must be the indigens of that country depending on how big your company might be, but in Nigeria nobody cares. All they'll say is if you do not like it, you should resign and look else where.

.