Establishes dispute directorates in geo-political zones

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA—AS a measure to curb industrial unrests that normally paralyze economic activities in the country, the federal government has approved the establishment of industrial dispute directorates in the six geo-political zones.

Consequently, the six zonal Labour offices in the geopolitical zones of the country have been turned to Labour Desk Offices for industrial dispute-prone Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, in the Federal Public Service.
Already, directors have been deployed to man the six zonal labour offices and resident labour desk officers to the selected seven pilot federal ministries.

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, who disclosed this in Abuja while declaring open a two-day workshop for the newly appointed zonal directors and resident labour desk officers, identified the pioneer beneficiary ministries as federal ministries of health, education, petroleum resources, aviation, power, transport and agriculture and rural development.

Wogu said the existing zonal labour offices which before the upgrading were headed by deputy directors, had been upgraded to full-fledged zonal directorates located in Port-Harcourt, Bauchi, Enugu, Lagos, Kaduna and Makurdi.
He commended the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for approval of the ministry’s request for strengthening Labour administration at the zonal offices and the promotion and sustenance of industrial relations harmony at the various MDAs prone to industrial relations conflicts.

Wogu pointed out that the ministry’s strategy of decentralising Labour administration as a proactive check on the increasing spate of industrial crises was aimed at revolutionising the administration’s transformation agenda in the dynamic Labour sector.

The minister who noted that the workshop was organised for the attainment of the objectives of the approval, stated that the focus of the agenda was on policy development and programmes which he said, “are directed at repositioning and strengthening the ministry in line with the aspirations of this administration for achieving peace and harmony, which are the panacea for national growth and development. Emphasis has also been placed on a paradigm shift for sustaining the Ministry in line with international best practices in the face of ever increasing and sophisticated challenges which demand a more developmental, pragmatic, decentralised, functional and democratic approach to labour administration in a globalising world.”