Management and staff of National Examinations Council (NECO) are at each other's throats. The bone of contention is the agitation for unionization by the staff, a move staunchly opposed to by the management.
The intervention of the Nigerian Labour Congress and Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Niger State branch; the state police command; the State Security Services (SSS) and the Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umaru Farouk Bahago, has not seen both parties shifting grounds.
Our correspondent gathered that the disagreement had lingered since 2005 in the matter of trade dispute No. IAP/HB/3744 between Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU) and three other examination bodies, namely, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Examinations Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB).
The dispute was referred to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) by the then Minister of Labour and Productivity on 15 August, 2005.
In the ruling signed by three arbitrators - Rufus O. Orugho, Aureol D. Vianana and Lawal Yusuf - the panel said: "One of the main purposes of a trade union is to defend the rights of its members wherever it appears to it that the rights of such members are being transgressed upon."
It then declared, "The tribunal, having carefully considered all the evidences before it and the applicable laws and having regard to the principles of equity, make the following awards: An order compelling NECO, JAMB and NABTEB to allow NASU unfettered right to unionize the workers of their establishments throughout the federation and an order of perpetual injunction restraining NECO, JAMB and NABTEB from intimidating, threatening or victimizing any of their workers in any manner whatsoever on the grounds that such workers(s) decide to participate or actually participated in trade union activities with NASU".
While JAMB has actually unionized its staff, NECO is not only adamant but also said to be intimidating its staff on the matter..
Within the past three months when the case was reopened by the NECO staff, 24 members of staff, seen to be championing unionization in the body, have been transferred.
Sunday Vanguard investigations showed that those affected by the "transfer" were indeed the arrowheads in the fight for unionism.
They were directed to proceed on the transfer the very day their letters were handed over to them without being paid the mandatory transfer allowances which is in accordance to sections 130103,130105,130107 and 130134 of the Public Service Rules.
The chairman of NASU of Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Comrade Saidu Ndagi, who has been co-ordinating the unionization of the NECO staff, condemned the attitude of the Chief Executive of the Council, Professor Promise Okpala.
Ndagi said that at the local level, all steps had been taken to follow due process in unionizing the NECO staff but that the registrar had been adamant and unco-operative.
"From what we have seen, the registrar is running the council like a personal empire and not as a government parastatal with few of his staff at the management level who cannot tell him the truth", the NASU chairman told Sunday Vanguard.
According to him, all steps taken by him, Niger State chairman of the NLC and the Emir of Minna, to prevail on Okpala to give room for the unionization of the NECO staff had failed, adding that, already, NASU had been forced to take a legal action by charging him for contempt of court.
"So many wrong things are going on in NECO from our findings. Nobody transferred in the past years has been paid the mandatory allowances among others."
A letter dated 25 January, 2012, entitled, "MASS TRANSFER", from NASU to the registrar asked the council to, as a matter of urgency and in the interest of peace, pay the affected workers their transfer allowances immediately to give peace a chance.
"About 200 staff have been transferred before now without payment of their transfer allowances. This new set of 24 has been transferred again without transfer allowances. We are all humans and therefore should not be treated as sub-human species in the land of our birth.
Based on the above and for the interest of peace in NECO, we advice management to either pay off all the transfer allowances of all affected staff or suspend the posting in the interest of peace," the letter stated.
Reacting to the allegations against the NECO management, Okpala described them as " emerging challenges facing the council."
According to him, though the Nigerian constitution empowers everyone to have freedom of association, it also shows that the same law allows freedom of association of individuals the choice of belonging or not belonging to an association.
He said, "As an individual, the Chief Executive of the Council and member of staff, I would not support unionization of the council for some reasons which include possible disruptions of council's activities especially during examination period which may be of major injury to the Nigerian child who may be affected by the challenge because of its capacity to distort his or her career."
Okpala described the various unions and individuals trying to introduce the union affair into the council as faceless people who are involved in a guerilla activities to destabilize NECO.
Meanwhile, NASU members, NLC officials and other affiliate unions from within and outside the state are expected in the NECO headquarters Minna soon for a parley with the staff.
The state police command, the SSS and the Emir of Minna have been informed of the gathering.
