Oscarline Onwuemenyi 11 January 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has criticised the spate of job losses in the nation’s oil and gas, and telecommunication sectors due to out-sourcing. NLC President, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, stated this in a statement obtained by SweetcrudReports in Abuja.
“In this New Year, we shall work with the relevant arms and agencies of government to checkmate and halt the practices of multinational corporations especially in the telecommunication, and oil and gas sectors, who are adding to the economic crisis in the country by heir new habit of out-scouring of jobs Nigerians can do to new destinations in Asia, especially Dubai and India,” he said.
Wabba did not mention the affected companies in the oil and gas sector, but there have been widespread staff lay offs in the sector, with the affected companies citing hardship resulting from low crude oil prices and the economic recession in the country.
Estimates by the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, indicate that over 3,000 workers in the oil and gas sector have lost their jobs since the country slipped into recession while many others have been rendered redundant.
According to the NLC president, there were reports that Ericsson Nigeria, the local subsidiary of the global telecommunication solution provider, had disengaged all Nigerian staff in its network operating centres and transferred its operation to India.
Wabba noted that Ericsson Nigeria had in the last few years managed the MTN Network from among its Nigerian staff.
“Now, in the name of off-shoring, Indian workers are being brought to understudy their Nigerian counterparts, and thereafter these jobs monitoring MTN and other telecommunication networks are then transferred to India.
He also said that Huawei, a telecommunication giant, which manages about 75 per cent of network operating centres such as Etisalat, Airtel, part of GLO and part of MTN network operating centres in Nigeria “have also commenced the knowledge transfer from Nigerian engineers to their Indian counterparts preparatory to also moving their operations to India”.
“We will work with the relevant committees of the National Assembly, ministries and agencies to protect our national interest.
“We will be leading national campaigns against these practices in the Telecom and Oil and Gas sectors in this New Year,” he assured.
Wabba said that the affected multinationals must be made to understand that they would not be allowed uninhibited access to making millions of dollars off Nigeria as a nation without contributing to creating jobs.
He said that there must be costs to every multinational decision to take the livelihood of Nigerian workers to other shores.
“We need the understanding, support and cooperation of government and its agencies in this fight to keep these jobs in the country,’’ he said.
