 The International Workers' Day is celebrated worldwide on May 1st, and it is a public holiday. This day commemorates the struggle of workers for better wages and working conditions, and it is marked with parade speeches and celebrations nationwide. The aim of the holiday is to recognize workers' contribution to the development of the nation and to encourage them to work harder towards achieving greater progress. Now the General Secretary of the Private Telecoms and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Texan, Abdullai Okono joins me now to discuss further on the welfare of Nigerians. Happy Workers' Day to you, Abdullai. Thank you. Yes, it is indeed my pleasure to have you here. Let's talk about the Workers' Day in Nigeria. We've been celebrating since 1980, and the different governments have come and gone. Can you say that the workers have been actually given the right place as it should be here in Nigeria? Thank you so much once again for having me. It's my pleasure to always be on your show. Yeah, it's actually... I want to say that the workers in Nigeria have not really been given their rightful place. Though we have to be objective about it all, we get to see that virtually everywhere in every part of the world, workers are not really given their due recognition. But as you know, it is embedded in the cycle of workers to always foster their way into the scheme of things. So workers are not given their due place, like I said earlier, but as you know, that's where we get the work, Alutakontuna, Victoria, Sata, that's where it comes in. That is, we keep struggling, we keep demanding for what is due to us. So in Nigeria, Nigeria is also not an exception. We have to be striving, we have to be struggling, we have to be fighting to be here and we will continue to do that. All right, two about Nigerian workers. May 1, every day, there are parades all over the country. President, state governors give speeches, even the Niger Label Congress goes out for parades across the various state capitals. But this year, it is a year where there will be a new administration sometime this month, as it's where this month of May. But the question right now would be, would you say that over time the issue of minimum wage and welfare of workers have actually been addressed? Because after much workers' wages or their wage was actually increased to 30,000 in Nigeria. And this year, this present administration also promised to increase workers' pay by 40%, despite the fact that inflation has increased by 85%. How did you really greet this development, the planned increment of workers' salaries? Okay, thank you so much. The planned increment of salary by 40% as announced by the Buhari administration is a work on development. Like we say in the local parlance, look for bread is better than nothing, you know. So it's a work on development, but we have the opinion that yes, the government can do far better than that, just based on what you just asserted now, that inflation rate is over 80%. But that means the increment is not commensurate to the inflation rate. Perhaps I want to believe that by the time the organized labor sit down with the government, they will reason with us and they do the needful, rather than giving us 40%, they will make it at least that 80% that you just mentioned about. Yes. Alright, through talking about workers' welfare, most people still have issues of unionization at places where they work and over time we've had issues of unfriendly labor practices and more treatments of workers just because they want to be unionized, but most of the organizations or some organizations are saying that they cannot do that. So how would labor come in or how has labor fed in this particular issue where workers actually denied what is due to them because their employers don't want them to unionize? It has not been easy actually, I must let you know. In terms of unionization of workers in Nigeria, it interests you to know that the government is even doing far better than the private sector. The public sector is doing a lot better than the private sector. In the private sector it has always been in talk of war, but I can assure you that we are not relenting. We are not relenting, it has not been easy doing. And they are almost majorly, these employers in the private sector, they ride on the fact that a lot of workers are always very busy, they are always frightened, they are afraid of associating with the union. When you meet with them, they tell you that yes, unionism is the best way, unions are there to protect us, they will fight for our rights, they will improve our welfare, we will work, but yet they will tell you that I don't want to be sacked, I don't want to lose my job. But what we always tell them is that even if you do not associate yourself with a union, you have always been experiencing sacks, incessant harassment, intimidation and all what not. So we keep encouraging them to do so. But another important thing again, from what you just said now, yes we hear it, but we have not really seen evidential document backing it up, where an employer will tell the state categorically, black and white, that his employees should not join a union in their sector. If we are able to see that you want to employ you, in case you have any company in that regard, or workers that are experiencing such, please bring it to our mouties, who so much appreciate who have that. And if you can lay a hand on just one employer to serve as a deterrent to others, we will make sure that we use such an employer as a scapegoat. So to go back to your question properly again, is that it has not been easy, it has not been an easy task at all, but we have been pushing it. At this point, I also want to implore the Ministry of Labor, who is the supervising ministry pertaining to labor and the productivity in the country, to also sit up, because a lot of them, when issues arise, and there is a need for their intervention, it does not really come as quick as it should be. So this is part of the reasons why these employer players in the private sector seem to be having a huge day. But I can assure you that trade unions in the private sector, they are not resting on their whores, they are working so hard to make sure that the workers, irrespective of their status, and their designation are unionized. All right. Blah, over time, we have talked about some issues, specifically in your sector, which is the telecommunication sector. Over time, we've seen big telecoms of giants here in the country, international ones, who are residents here in the country. Over time, the big positions, as it were, are given to expatriate, while Nigerians, who are also capable, are actually pushed to the background. What has the NLC or your unions done to address such issues? Thank you so much for this question. Our union has been doing a great lot in this regard, and I can assure you that to a very large extent, though we may not want to over exaggerate things within the sector that we have eradicated totally, we have not been able to do so. But I can assure you that maybe 100% as it used to be, we have reduced it to the barest minimum, say below 40%. It has not been easy, you know, but I tell you that we are really buckling it. We are working assiduously to ensure that things are not done. Because all multinationals, they must abide by our laws, especially when it has to do with expatriate quota policy, which stipulates that for every expatriate that will be coming into the country, there must be three Nigerians attached to such expatriates. So, and apart from that also, there must be a need, meaning that the expatriates must be seen in Nigeria or must be absent rather from Nigeria. That is to say that Nigerians do not have that prerequisite qualification to do the task before such an expatriate can come down to Nigeria. And once the expatriate is here in Nigeria, three Nigerians must be attached to such expatriates. For him, I mean, for the expatriate to put them up to speed, to train them such that when it leaves, they will have enough hands to take over such a rules. Private telecommunications and communication services of Nigeria will be doing a lot. I can, for, I'm sure you may not be comfortable with me mentioning names, but I can assure you that there are some companies that we are aware of that we have tackled and we have ensured that such expatriates live in Nigeria for good. All right. I want to understand what the Nigerian label laws, what they say concerning the issue of casualization of workers because it still is, it is still an issue here in the country where most people are just working on temporary basis or they are seen as casual staff and they are not getting the fringe benefit or the entitlement that they should be getting when they actually do so much work. So what does the law says, what does it, sorry, say, about the issue of casualization of workers in the country? You asked me, like you just did now, Justin, I'll tell you that I'm not sure the Nigerian law is so protective of employees because in some aspect of our liberal activities go through, they will tell you that there are temporary, there can't be temporary employment and permanent employment, you know, meaning that they give room for these employers to hide under heat, to give some people temporary employment. But by our large, the laws, our laws pertaining to liberal have been reviewed and hopefully a lot of these misgivings or the shortcomings that we have noticed would be rectified everywhere in the world. But the liberal movement from arts or from against casualization. Casualization is one thing that should not be encouraged but another thing, one important thing I need to mention is that in this country of us now, people are now, employers are now hiding under outsourcing, determined as outsourcing, but in reality the way it plays out with the carry out the process, you see that it's actually a case of a casualization. We have a company presently which we are tackling, which we have, and thanks to your station that you did a bid for us in publicizing it, we shall be embarking on a three-day warning strike, effective Tuesday, that is the day tomorrow, that is the day after the workers' day. So in this company they tell you that they are outsourcing, getting projects from the telcos and for them to win those projects, they have given the impression to the telcos that yes, they have the way without to manage the, I mean to take, I mean to do the project effectively, meaning that they also have the personnel that can carry out those work, but what you notice is that in turn they also now subcontracts to other commercial companies, then these commercial companies also in turn will now hand them over to another set of companies and you get to ask these workers that who are your employers, and the workers grown up for goodness sake, they will be telling you that they do not really know who their employers are. In some instances you see that the employers, some companies will be the ones that will be paying their allowances and the other will be paying their salaries. So these are some of the things we are tackling this company on, we are taking the Huawei Technologies on and we will not be rest until things are done normally. We cannot just come from all the way from Asia and be enslaving our people in this country. It is a no-no, it is something we will fight them to stand still to ensure it is eradicated in that company. Then apart from Huawei Technologies, Nigeria Limited, other companies within the sector also, we are beaming our searchlights in them, but we are starting with Huawei. By the time we are done with them, yes, everybody wants to also have to sit up. Alright, it is May Day celebration right now. So what is the hope of the average worker in Nigeria in 2023 at a time where they go to the markets today to buy maybe just rice and the next day they go to the same market and the price has actually doubled. As we celebrate May Day, as we celebrate International Workers' Day, what is the future for the Nigerian worker? Is there any hope as we celebrate and is there any reason to even celebrate Workers' Day? Thank you so much, Justin. On this, I will say that as long as there is life, there is always hope. Nigerian workers should be hopeful that things will get better, things will get improved. Before now, we are talking about less than about several thousand five hundred minimum wage and today we are talking about 30% and this government has also announced that 40% increment will be done and that is we have not even sat down with them to negotiate a new minimum wage, but on their own, considering the fact that for them to have recognized the type of inflation that we experience in the country, they have proposed that 40% will be increased in the wages. So by the time we meet with them, we negotiate, obviously we have to do something higher than the 40% that they have proposed right now. So in all of these, there is hope. As long as we are alive, there is always hope. All right, I must say very big thank you to you. I have been speaking with Abdulai Okono, he is the general secretary of the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, Texan. Thanks for joining us and this May Day celebration. Thank you so much for having me. And just before we go on the show, there is a knowledge gap and information in Africa. And as such, people need to understand that what they need to do and apply information to create wealth. This form part of this course at the Wealth Creation Summit organized by Knowledge Digest Africa where speakers from around the world details in this report. And I'll see you again tomorrow. My name is Justin Akadoni. Many thanks for watching. Thank you. So I believe in mentorship or grassroots because I know that if the curriculum can be restructured, many people are going to understand entrepreneurship, management of skills and all of that which basically is not happening currently in the curriculum of our country in Nigeria and in many part of the African country. And that's what we are trying to do to bring knowledge closer with practical experience. It looks informal but has a lot of detail about giving results. In the Caution Center on starting and growing business, monetizing digital skills as well as tech innovation for productivity and profitability at work. Entrepreneurs are also advised to have a good knowledge of what they want to do. I mean, before you go into putting money into cryptocurrency, do you understand what cryptocurrency is? Do you have the skill and the education required to actually put your money into that? I always advise people, start by knowing what you want to put your money into. There are so many platforms where you can invest money because if you are going into forest market, we are trading 6.6 trillion every day and you don't want to go in there and just throw money as well. Start by learning. My coming here is to bring practical experience, is to bring what I would call walking information that can help these young minds transform the mind. It's really a mind game. Once the mind can be transformed and that base of it, that grass root that background of it, it's going to change everything. Young people are well represented at the summit and the academics are speaking on the essence of being future ready by bringing the town and gown together in the co-production of the college. The essence of the our goal is to produce human resources for those in the industry. But there seem, from what you have seen in the past there seem to be a gulf because sometimes we have seen employers complaining about, they talk about the quality, it's not the quality of the graduate passing, but they are talking about those graduates that are work ready that are employment ready and that's why we thought that for us to be able to achieve that, the two must come together. Find and show that despite geopolitical and economic destabilizers such as inflation and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, approximately 80 trillion US dollars in new wealth is likely to be created over the next five years.