Welders Send SOS To Buhari, Ask FG To Pressure Dangote, Seplat, Others To Patronise Them

DECRIES Attitude Of NDDC, DTSG Towards Old Contractors

By Wilson Macaulay

Comrade (Chief) Joseph Awala lnone, National President of Nigeria Welders and Fitters Union (NIWELFU), has sent a ‘Save Our Soul’ (SOS) message to President Muhammadu Buhari to use the instruments of his good office to caution and prevail on Alhaji Aliko Dangote, MD/CEO of DANGOTE Group, SEPLAT Nigeria Limited, SAIPEM , STERLING Global Nigeria Limited and other companies operating in Nigeria over what they termed as their unpatriotic and unpopular decision to bring foreign welders and fitters in droves from China, Thailand, India, Egypt, Singapore and other nationalities for the construction of DANGOTE Refinery in Lagos and to many other construction sites and operational bases across the length and breadth of the nation, adding that “they have callously with impunity neglected the Nigerian welders and fitters to the detriment of their national building efforts.
Comrade Chief Joseph Awala lnone, the labour boss who made this statement during a press conference shortly after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Benin City, the Edo State capital, went down memory lane to remind Mr President that the Warri, Port- Harcourt , Kaduna Refineries, Kaduna, Port- Harcourt Petrochemical, Escravos-Lagos Transmission Line, ECOWAS Gas Line, NLG Bonny and other notable projects were built by Nigerian welders and fitters with cognate and requisite knowledge years ago and were not even as experienced the way they are today.
Comrade Chief Awala, the NIWELFU President, therefore wondered why the argument of inexperienced welders and fitters can come to play as a reason given by DANGOTE, SEPLAT, SAIPEM and their co -travellers to dump the qualified Nigerian welders and fitters in clear negligence of the Local Content Act (LCA) in a critical time like this in the history of our nation without any due respect for national interest.
Awala who was determined to anchor his argument on concrete and verifiable evidence, recalled that it is necessary to remind Mr President that this same Nigerian welders and fitters the companies have branded as incompetent, successfully in the past executed projects of lnternational repute endorsed by International Standard Organizations (ISO) in Angola, Turkey, South Korea and several other nations to drive home the truth that they do not lack competent welders and fitters in Nigeria.
Chief Awala, the alarmed labour leader observed that there is an urgent need for President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the Senate through the Senate Committee on Ethics, Public Pettition and Privileges to call these companies to order and also to ensure that they comply to the Nigerian Labour Laws and Regulatory Guidelines due to the adverse effect of the continuous practice of this skewed employment policies targeted to make life difficult for welders and fitters in particular and our domestic economy in general.
Speaking further, Awala added that any thing short of that will spell doom for the nation, hence the clarion call for all hands to be on deck to checkmate this untoward malady.
Chief Awala who pointed out more of the wrongdoings of the said corporate bodies, affirmed in his remark that unless something is done to change the statusquo, Nigeria cannot move forward with these kind of companies operating in the nation until there is a positive change.
He stressed that NIWELFU is ready as a union and they are committed to doing everything possible to sweep the vestiges of neocolonialism exhibited by these companies from the land to allow accelerated growth and development to thrive in Nigeria.
The General Secretary of NIWELFU, Comrade Innocent Ngozi Adimoha, who also spoke during the press conference in Benin City, strongly suggested that members of NIWELFU should be appointed into the Presidential Local Content Monitoring Committee, an idea which he believes will give more bite to the committee’s capacity to deliver on their mandate instead of allowing the body to remain the way it presently is as a barking dog that cannot bite.
According to Comrade Adimoha, if that committee was alive to their duties, the problems of the refusal of companies compliance to our Acts of Parliament regarding labour related issues and employment would be a thing of the past.
Comrade Adimoha insisted assertively that any job Nigerians can do should not be given to expatriates in the spirit and letter of the Local Content Act, unless it is otherwise proven that Nigeria actually lacks the relevant competence, adding that employment is key to the revival of any ailing economy.
Comrade (Apostle ) Iniobong Peters JP the Treasurer of NIWELFU in his own contribution called on President Muhamnadu Buhari to direct the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Barrister Festus Keyamo to ensure that all companies operating in Nigeria employ Nigerian welders and fitters and also Indigenous contactors who have the requisite knowledge to perform optimally in their chosen fields of operations instead of flooding our nation with foreign welders and fitters to take over jobs we are trained to do even better.

This,peril he said, is to the peril of of the nation’s foreign reserve occssioned by the dangerous domestic capital flight associated with such practices.
Comrade Peters Iniobong maintained that those in authority should not pretend not to know that what is going on in these companies is against the National Policy on Employment NPE, which is formulated to guide against any thing that will challenge and jeopardise our national interest such as we have today, a situation were expartrate quotas are over-shot deliberately to kill our nation’s economy to massage the selfish interest of cabals who are cronies to people in the corridors of power.
AWALA DECRIES NDDC/DELTA STATE GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS OLD CONTRACTORS
Speaking in a related development, Comrade Chief Awala took both the NDDC and the Delta State Government to the cleaners as he lambasted the federal agency, DESOPADEC and the Government of Delta State for the cold feet treatment given to old contractors whose contract money are tied down without payment, noting that they are paying new contractors in the system who are their cronies to line their private coffers with enough cash to give themselves financial muscles during elections.
Awala, the labour boss during the interactive session tasked the management of NDDC, DESOPADEC and the Delta State Government to revert to the policy of first come first serve by paying old contractors before attending to new ones.
According to him, it is wrong to rob Peter to pay Paul because it is the subversion of the principle of equity and justice.
Comrade Chief Awala expressed dismay that a federal agency as strategic as NDDC and DESOPADEC at the state level could be so loose to the whims and caprices of an evil cartel who are out to thwart the effort of Mr. President in achieving the next level agenda
Chief Awala who emphasised the need to reform NDDC and DESOPADEC, said: “l strongly advise President Buhari and the Delta State Government to reposition NDDC and DESOPADEC very well as agencies of development to avoid the ugly experience of contractors who have executed projects already put to use by the government are languishing and living in penury to the extent that some of these contractors had their properties seized and sold by banks and money lenders to defray debts incurred to complete NDDC and DESOPADEC projects.”
Continuing, he said: “The situation is so bad that some contractors with hundreds of Millions in NDDC and DESOPADEC pending for payment fell sick and died in the process as a result of lack of money to handle their medical challenges.”
He posited that, since the primary aim of any government is to make life better for her citizens, the NDDC and DESOPADEC should be given a human face to live a clean public life that will promote excellence and generate a new tone in our nation’s quest to true greatness.
He tasked the government to hire the services of a competent consultant to computerize these agencies so that they can really function optimally to cater for the welfare and social needs of the citizens of the area to avoid the abuse of humanity.
He posited that, since the primary aim of any government is to make life better for her citizens, the NDDC and DESOPADEC should be given a human face to live a clean public life that will promote excellence and generate a new tone in our nation’s quest to true greatness.
Awala in his summation expressed the hope that his message will strike a positive cord in the heart of those in power to turn a new leaf for the betterment of all and sundry.