Bimbola Oyesola, [email protected]
Workers in the food sector have called for the Federal Government’s intervention to curtail the use of robotics and artificial intelligence in the production process in the country.
This is even as they have insisted that their union, National Union of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), remains intact, contrary to recent report of factions by some aggrieved members.
The president of the union, Lateef Oyelekan, said Nigeria must be wary of modern technology that has the capacity to deepen unemployment in the country. Oyelekan said government must caution manufacturers to desist from turning the jobs of human to robots, which he said is now prevalent in most of the big firms in the country.
Expressing worries over the power of artificial intelligence on employment, he reminded the Federal Government that Nigeria was still a developing country where more people still need to keep their jobs rather than allow technology to displace them.
“Our economy is not ripe for this, if government of China, where these products are made, are not using it, Ghana and some other countries as well, Nigeria must also save jobs instead of rendering most of our workers redundant because of machines,” he said.
While advising government not to embrace AI as it is being done in most developed climes, he also lamented that, 60 years after independence, labour was still contending with employers over outsourcing.
He pleaded that employment-threatening technology should be reduced from entering Nigeria in order to save jobs, especially because of the population: “Ghana and some other African countries are being careful with it. We need to create jobs in Nigeria. Government should improve on electricity for massive job creation.”
On the perceived factionalisation in the union, the president made it clear that some aggrieved members who were penalised for infractions resorted to misinforming the public with stories of conflicts, stressing that the leadership of the union was intact.
He said, “The current members of National Administrative Council elected on December 9, 2016, for a four-year tenure are still solidly united, save for Comrade Onoja J. Peter, currently on suspension due to his gross anti-union conduct.
“In other words, 10 elected members are very united in performing their duties, five, out of six appointed members, are performing their respective duties with absolute commitment, while Comrade Bamidele Busari, general secretary, is currently on suspension owing to his gross infraction against the constitution of our union.
“Our union is well structured and nobody can single-handedly take a decision. The aggrieved single-handedly used the letterhead of the union to write a letter to the Minister of Labour.”
On the allegations of tenure elongation, acting general secretary, NUFBTE, Mike Olanrewaju, stated that the deferments of election across board for all organs of the union by two years, in other words, two years’ extension of the current tenure of elected officers, was a meticulous and progressive decision overwhelmingly adopted by the National Executive Council at its meeting in Abuja on February 4, 2019.
He stated that, “Therefore, the main motive for the deferment of elections by two years was predicated on the necessity to avoid the unhealthy incidence of animosity, bickering and unnecessary distractions usually associated with the process and conduct of elections.
“Contrary to the impression being portrayed in various media, the truth remains that the amiable and humble president was never involved in the initiative of the progressive idea of tenure extension. Rather, it was a collective decision of the union’s members across the country to the mutual benefit of all members.”
On the alleged court injunction by the aggrieved party, Olanrewaju posited that no injunction was served on the union.
“Our doors are opened. As at today, we have not been served any court injunction. We all know that there is a process to serve such injunctions. This must be served physically or by substituted means through a competent court order,” he said.