Chairman of Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof Tunji Olaopa, has called on employers, workers and government to establish and sustain a working consensus on industrial harmony as a critical success factor in meeting the aspirations of the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Olaopa made the call when he received a team from the Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), led by its Director-General, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, on a courtesy visit.
He said: As a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, I knew first-hand the crisis and threats of industrial disharmony, the nuances, and how it is almost practically impossible to ward off such threats without constructive tripartism between the three social partners in industrial relations – workers, employers and government,’ the FCSC Chairman observed.
He noted that serious work was needed to establish the required institutional framework for harmonious industrial relations, including legislative reform and a revamp of the protocols for collective bargaining and dispute resolution, adding that the government might need to convene the tripartite social partners in a no-holds-barred dialogue where all the issues are put on the table and resolved in a spirit of give-and-take to achieve the working consensus on industrial harmony as a basis for praxis going forward.
While observing that some critically needed, irreducible economic reform policies of the Tinubu administration may have caused a measure of disruption and triggered the exit of some major industries and employers, Olaopa said it was vital to strengthen institutional conversation between the public service and industry on the one hand, and at once strengthen the institutional capacity of the public sector to harness the full benefits of public-private partnership (PPP), a process that will involve deploying elements of private sector management know-how to strengthen public sector productivity, on the other.
The FCSC chairman disclosed that due to the Commission weak institutional capacity, worsened by the turnover rate of pools staff posted from the civil service to the commission, the commission had resolved to professionalise its secretariat and to institute performance management as key steps in transforming it to a professional hub and centre of excellence for human resource management in the public service.
In his remarks, NECA DG, Oyerinde stated that economic growth was very much in the interest of the association, saying: “That is why we are fully supportive of your proposals for industrial harmony, as such harmony is an indispensable condition for growth and development.”
The DG also promised that NECA would facilitate the staff exchange programme, including drawing on similar initiatives that a NECA study team observed on a recent study to Ipswich in the United Kingdom.
