By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

THE two unions in the nation’s construction industry; National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, NUCECFWW, and Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association, CCESSA, few days ago raised alarm over jobs insecurity, lamenting that no fewer than 100,000 workers had been sacked by Multi-National Corporations,  MNCs,  and indigenous contractors over government refusal to pay for completed and certified projects.

At the  joint briefing, the unions claimed not less than N100billion debt remained unpaid to these contractors by  Federal, state  and local governments.

Briefing on behalf of the two, President of CCESA, Dr. Augustine Etafo, said as part of the plans to draw the attention of government to the plight of the workers and the companies, they would hold a peaceful protest rally in Abuja, where all the construction sites would be shut down for a day.

They appealed to government at all levels to pay the contractors and save the industry from the looming collapse.

Abandoned projects

Speaking to Labour Vanguard, on the pathetic situation of the industry, General Secretary of NUCECFWW, Comrade Babatude Liadi, named some of the road projects that have been abandoned because of the unpaid debts to include Oshodi Apapa Expressway, Abeokuta, Lagos road, Lagos, Ibadan Express road, Kano, Maiduguri road, Abuja, Lokoja road, East west road, Kaduna eastern bypass among others.

Comrade Liadi lamented that to compound the situation, “there are situations in some states where executed and certified contracts, because the government or governors that awarded the contract are no longer in power, the new governors or governments would say they do not know anything about the contracts.

We have cases like that everywhere.  Lokoja, Abuja road has been on since Obasanjo regime. Every year, they budget for it without money being released. The road today, is in a sorry state; the contractor has abandoned the it and disengaged all the workers.

In the first week of this month Dantata construction company laid off almost all its workers on Kano, Maiduguri road. Another construction company on the same  road, laid off almost 80 percent of its workers  because of unpaid money to contractors.

* Comrade Babtunde Liadi, General Secretary, NUCECFWW, Dr. Augustine Etafo, President, CCESSA and Comrade Musa Lawal, General Secretary, CCESSA, at the briefing in Lagos over massive job loses in construction industry.

The Chinese company, CGC; which is also on the same road, did the same thing. So, we have serious problem in the industry and the industry is under grave threat. We need to draw the attention of the government at all levels to the crisis. We call on well meaning Nigerians who can prevail on the government to pay the contractors and save the industry from imminent collapse.”

“The worst part of it is that most of these companies borrowed money from the banks with high interest rate and they are spending millions to serve the loan monthly. Workers have been on the receiving end and they are being laid off massively.

In other climes, we see government pulling down old structures to build new structures to create jobs in construction industry, you see government deliberately redesigning roads, public buildings and create infrastructures where they never existed to sustain jobs and create more jobs in the construction sector. But in our country, we are only not doing that, but we are also deliberately killing existing jobs. We cannot continue like this.”

“We have planned our industrial activities or actions in segments. We started with a press briefing to alert the government about job insecurity in our industry. We will also hold a peaceful protest rally in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, where all the construction sites would shut down on that day. Thereafter, our two labour centers will take up the issue and it could lead to a national strike where other industrial unions will join us on sympathy strike.”

Local content

Speaking on expatriate quota abuse, NUCECFWW’s General Secretary argued that “as unions, we have done a lot to draw the attention of government to the issue of expatriate quota abuse in the industry to no avail. We have even contemplated a private bill to the National Assembly on this issue. It is disheartening to see that carpenters, painters and even laborers and brought into the country in the name of experts or expatriates.”

“The problem is not in our hands but government and it’s agencies especially immigration and our embassies that give visas to foreigners to come into our country  without doing a little check whether they are qualified and actually needed or not. They do not check and cross check because of gratification and inducement. They just collect money and sign papers to allow them in. So, we are helpless.”

“However, the National Assembly is probing into it and has invited the companies involved in these abuses. It may interest you to know that because of our cry and gravity of the issue, before a contract is signed now in Nigeria, you must let the authorities know how many expatriates you are bringing in and how many local staff are you engaging. But some are still cutting corners and so, the fight is still on because it is a big fight that we must all join hands to fight including the press.

Deforestation

On deforestation, he said “we are worried at the rate at which loggers go into our bushes and forests to cut trees, including the premature ones, with impunity. This has exposed our environment to more degradation and other hazards. Trees are natural prevention to erosion and when the trees are cut, the land will be exposed to erosion and flood.  Deforestation is also a threat to our wild life and ecosystem.”

“One of the core issues of climate change being discussed all over the world is deforestation. We should be on the same page with the world by managing our climate so as not to suffer the effects of climate change or global warming.”