It is with great joy that I welcome you all to the meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of our great Union, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) holding in the mega city of Lagos, the Centre of Excellence and city of Aquatic Splendor.

This meeting will no doubt give our numerous members from different parts of the country an opportunity to feel the pulse of new Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country, where all Nigerians from different walks of life, different cultures and different religions have continued to live in harmony.

As you would have noticed on your way to this venue, Lagos state is undergoing tremendous transformation as its amiable Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) is carrying out monumental development demonstrating beyond all reasonable doubts that in practical terms Nigeria can indeed join the league of civilized and advanced countries if conscientious and progressive leaders emerge at the political scene.

Beyond that, and as is customary at a meeting of this nature, we shall also collectively reflect on the activities of the Union and evaluate our performance since the NEC meeting last year in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.  It is also necessary to commend our Lagos State Branch for organizational savvy it has displayed by assisting to mobilize its members at a short notice and ensured that the venue for this conference and other lodging facilities were secured for our delegates.

Your Excellency, distinguished guests, fellow comrades, I will now proceed to comment on some national issues that are of common concern to our teeming members and indeed all Nigerians.

2.      Salary Increase In The Civil Service

Mr. Chairman, you may wish to know that since early last year, the Trade Union Side of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council demanded for upward review of Civil Servants salaries from grade levels 01-17.  This request was intended to restore the relativity hitherto existing before the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) hiked the emoluments of political office holders, judicial officers, and permanent secretaries with more than 800% without doing same for other civil servants.

Today, while a permanent secretary takes home about N1.5 million monthly, the next officer to that rank, the director, receives N150,000 per month.  This form of disparity is capable of killing morale leading to frustration and low productivity in the civil service.  Besides, it is common knowledge that civil servants are the least paid employees in the Public Sector of the economy.  It is high level of commitment and sense of responsibility that have continued to sustain the morale of our members who have continued to render selfless service as usual hoping that the government will soon play its own part by being fair to all concerned.

We urge the government to realize that officers on grade levels 01-17 are also Nigerians who are entitled to decent living wage apart from the fact that they go to the same market with political office holders, judicial officers, and permanent secretaries.  We, therefore, demand the immediate commencement of negotiation based on the memorandum submitted to Government by the Joint Council with a view to ensuring that the relativity existing before the last increment of permanent secretaries’ remunerations by the RMAFC is restored in the interest of industrial peace, equity and justice.

3.      Impending Mass Sack Of INEC Workers

Fellow comrades, I wish to use this opportunity to alert you all on the impending mass sack of civil servants by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).  Recently, the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Maurice Iwu, announced with fanfare to newsmen that he has decided to retrench workers of the Commission enmasse.

I wish to state that if this mass purge is allowed to take place, it will bring untold hardship to thousands of employees who will be laid off as well as thousands of their dependants.

This plan by Iwu to send thousands of workers to the oversaturated labour market is really painful given the fact that it runs counter to prevailing government policy.  You will recall that early this year, the Federal Government issued Circular Ref. No.SGF.8/VII/305 of  26^th March 2009 pledging to maintain the present level of employment in the public service to ensure that no worker loses his or her job as a result of the global economic meltdown and urged the private sector to follow suit.

 We are, therefore, baffled that INEC, a government agency can unilaterally decide to breach this policy with impunity.  We call on President Umar Yar’Adua to prevail on the INEC chairman to sheath his sword and refrain from any act that could trigger off another round of industrial crisis which the country cannot afford now. 

Let me also use this opportunity to assure our members at the Commission that the Union has the capacity to protect their jobs and ensure that they are not treated as slaves in their own country.

4.      ROT IN NIGERIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM/ CURRENT STRIKE IN THE 104 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGES

Distinguished guests, as you may have read or heard in the mass media, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has resumed the strike it suspended in June, 2009 in the 104 Federal Government Colleges.

The crux of the matter now is the refusal of the Federal Ministry of Education to implement the agreements it entered into with the leadership of the Association in respect of outstanding Labour issues in the Ministry particularly the restoration of Junior Secondary classes in the Unity Schools in spite of the fact that the secondary schools in the Army, the Navy, the Airforce and the police are all running junior secondary classes.

Indeed, the Senator Jonathan Zwingina Panel set up by the Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu, to look into the Unity School debacle expressed alarm in its report that the JSS components were not in session and recommended that students should be admitted into the junior classes by September 2009.  The Committee also alerted the nation to the fact that the way things are going, the Unity Schools might be phased out by 2013 if admission into the JSS classes did not take place as recommended.

It is our view that the only reason why the Unity Schools have been earmarked to be phased out by attrition is to fulfill the private hidden agenda of a select privileged few who believe that the schools should be privatized as enunciated by the former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili under the Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

It is necessary to state that as far back as 1978 as a military Head of State, General Obasanjo advocated that the Federal Government Colleges should be handed over to the State Governments while on a visit to Federal Government College, Odogbolu, Ogun state because according to him the schools were too expensive to run.  We wonder whether the Country is comfortable with the enormous amount of resources being wasted on a daily basis in the management of ignorance and mediocrity.  We make bold to say that our country Nigeria would have by now joined the league of nations that are classified as civilized and developed if adequate attention has been given to qualitative education by successive governments in the country.  With what is happening to the Unity Colleges, we are indeed becoming more worried by the rot in the Nigerian education sector. The years of lip service that our successive leaders have paid to the sector are becoming evident. From the Nursery and Primary School system, which is the foundation of modern education, to the tertiary institutions, the bedrock of scientific and technological advancement, the entire education sector is in a shamble. The rot in the sector is like a putrefying sore, open to all to see. In the latest Webometrics World University Ranking released in July 2009, other African Universities are clearly far ahead of Nigeria. There is no Nigerian university among the best 6000 in the World nor among the first 60 in Africa. For quite a while now, it has been a season of strikes by the unions in the sector because of the complete neglect of that sphere of our national life.

We all know that a country cannot rise above the quality of products turned out by its education system. The future of any country depends on education. Sir Wiston Churchill, one time British Prime Minister once said, “the empires of the future are empires of the minds”.

It is high time we transformed this country into a knowledge-based economy through massive fund injection, conscious promotion of efficient, sustainable and effective IT initiatives achievable only through measured and systematic development of industrial and academic resources.

For this country, the best time to act is now. If we fail to address the rot in this strategic sector, Nigeria will pay dearly for it in future. Allocation of mere 8% of the annual budget to education is grossly inadequate I must say.

We therefore wish to seize this opportunity to call on the government to ensure the resumption of J.S.S classes immediately and inject adequate resources to the schools so as to safeguard the future of quality education for Nigerian children in line with the vision of the founding fathers of the unity colleges.

5.      Infrastructural Deficit and Non Productivity of the Economy

The Nigerian economy is grinding to a halt. All indicators are pointing to the fact that the economy has ceased to be productive. Most of the productive ventures and going concerns are closing down in droves and relocating to other African countries. One clear bad example was the closure of Coca-Cola condensate plant at Ota, Ogun State. It is instructive to note that Coca-Cola has two condensate plants in Africa - one in Nigeria and the other one in Swaziland. Whereas the one in Swaziland, a country with numerical strength less than that of Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State is still functioning. Dunlop, Michelin and many manufacturing concerns had earlier closed shop and relocated from Nigeria.  There is need for the government to wake up as a matter of extreme urgency, stop paying lip service and media hype to issues of infrastructure and development. The Government at all levels should galvanize the system through well-coordinated developmental and fiscal policies aimed at stimulating the economy through massive investments in road networks, water, airport, seaports and most importantly energy.

Economic growth and domestic production cannot be stimulated under a crippling environment of infrastructural deficit, high cost of production and sub-optimal level of capacity utilization

Another vital artery of development that the nation has neglected for a long period is the rail system. The importance of a functioning rail system cannot be overemphasized. For a country to be classified among the best, this vital service has to be in place.

With a working railway, passengers and goods can be moved easily at affordable prices across the nation. The dilapidated roads of Nigeria made worse by an avalanche of tankers and trailers will enjoy a much needed respite for proper rehabilitation. Road accidents will reduce. Resuscitation of the rail service will equally offer wide range of employment to thousands of Nigerians - skilled and unskilled. We are using this medium to appeal to our government that it is high time for Nigeria, like in the past, to boast of a decent rail system.

The present situation where the law vests the power to build railways only in the federal government is stale and should be reviewed to accommodate regional railways. On equal note, the current drive to reposition our rail system should be propelled by some political will which is presently lacking.

I therefore wish to use this occasion to appeal to our lawmakers to urgently review all relevant laws that can move this country forward and for Mr. President, to find solutions to the nation’s most intractable problems such as infrastructural decay, institutional corruption and culture of impunity.

6.      Currency and Banking Reforms

Our country, like other developing countries of the world has been badly affected by the global economic meltdown through multiple channels like reduced trade flows, remittances, decline in crude oil and commodity prices, drop in foreign direct investments and exchange rate depreciation. Ours is compounded by official corruption, mismanagement, culture of impunity and waste.  But it seems in the past two months, with the coming on board of a new CBN Governor, that the searchlight has beamed on our financial landscape with the audit of the 24 banks operating in the country. The exercise recorded casualties with some of the banks’ helmsmen shown the way out.  It is really worrisome that some bank chief executives were using depositors’ money to massage their insatiable greed including buying private jets for themselves.  Indeed, one bank chieftain is reported to be in possession of two private jets and was on the verge of acquiring additional two before the bank scam blew open. We equally have a case of another Bank CEO who gave out unsecured loans to the tune of N235 billion.  A bank was even reported to have a debt portfolio in which 76% of it was traceable to his immediate family members and businesses which the CEO has an interest.  These revelations are quite baffling in an economy where most citizens live below one dollar per day.

The Association therefore welcomes reform(s) in our system that will reposition this country as one of the reference points in the world. And this union will continue to support the drive once it is within the confines of the constitution guided by due process and rule of law.

A caveat: with criticisms and rebuttals trailing the exercise by some affected stakeholders, we strongly advise that the drive should be carefully handled so as not to impair our real sector and service companies through refusal of our banks to grant legitimate loans and evaporation of international credit lines by Overseas Correspondent banks. No system can function without legitimate credit.

7. Need For Electoral Reform Before 2011 Elections

There is no doubt that the Nigerian electoral system is characterized by frauds that render the right of the citizens to elect their leaders a nullity.  The task before all conscientious citizens, therefore. is to see how the political elite can be persuaded to toe the path of civilized conduct by allowing the will of the people prevail during elections.  In this connection, we recommend that the Reforms proposed by Muhammadu Uwais Panel should be critically examined by the National Assembly to ensure that its recommendations most especially the one that has to do with allowing the National Judicial Council has a say in who becomes the electoral commission Chairman are adopted.  The legislators should for once take national interest into consideration in resolving this logjam instead of displaying the usual partisan posturing while taking major national decisions.

8. Proposed Deregulation Of The Down Stream Of The    Petroleum Industry

Mr. Chairman, we are glad that the Government has had a rethink on its policy to fully deregulate the down stream sector of the economy which it earlier proposed for November 2009. We hope that the Government is not merely postponing the evil day till early next year perhaps to welcome the citizens with more hardship in the New Year. We believe, however, that as a democratic government, this Administration will hearken to the voice of the people and discard this deregulation policy.  Instead, the government and other viable organizations should invest in the construction of new refineries and in the repair of existing ones so that the issue of importation of petroleum products for domestic use will be a thing of the past.  It is really a pity that Nigeria has continued to import these products when we have the material and human resources to refine these products and make them available to Nigerians at affordable prices. The political elite also need to be reminded that the main purpose of government is the welfare of the people.  Thus, they should not continue to fashion out policies that are meant to inflict maximum punishment on the people.

9.      Insecurity in the Land

The problem of security in the country has continued to feature in my speeches for some time now. This is because without adequate security, life itself will be threatened. In the last one year, the security situation in the country has become more worrisome and a source of concern for both the government and citizenry. If it is not kidnapping, armed robbery, murder or assassination, it would be sectarian or communal violence where lives and property would be lost. It is for this reason I keep reminding the government of its primary responsibility of securing lives and property of its citizens. I also believe that the crime rate and sectarian crises will reduce drastically if employment generation is put in place so that able bodied youths are fully engaged to make a living. Towards this end, I call on the three tiers of government to devise ways and means of boosting employment opportunities. If the youths are productively engaged, they will divert from crime because as the saying goes, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. I must also reiterate with renewed emphasis, that electricity supply is a key factor in any modern economy. I therefore urge the Federal and State Governments to take the issue of power supply very seriously  

because if electricity becomes stable, artisans and other small scale businesses will begin to thrive and many people will be actively engaged in economic activities.

10.    On this note Fellow Comrades, I welcome you once again to this meeting and wish you all successful deliberation.

Thank you for your attention and God bless.

Signed

Comrade O. O. Olaitan

National President