Don urges public sector to uphold professionalism

The public service sector has been urged by a Professor of Industrial Relations at the Covenant University, Ota in Ogun State, Olufemi Adeyeye, to uphold professionalism in the discharge of their obligations to the public.
Adeyeye bemoaned the bastardisation of Industrial Relations practice in Nigeria blaming all actors in employment relationships for being responsible.
In his lecture titled ‘’Bastardisation of the Templates of Industrial Relations Practice in Nigeria: All Actors in Employment Relationships Are Accusative and Censurable,’’ Adeyeye noted that unruly behaviour coming from stakeholders in employment relationship has affected the psychology and the moral upbringing of Nigerians, particularly, the youth.
The don, who delivered the 6th inaugural lecture recently at the University chapel in Ota, noted that a lot of havoc has been done by the various actors in employment relationships to one another and to the development and progress of the nation.
According to him, analysing the consequences of bastardisation, a government official who accepts kickbacks or gratification while performing his duties, benefits directly from his activity to the detriment of national development.
‘’When a Minister, bastardising the power of his office, awards a contract to an incompetent Construction company after collecting more than 50 percent of the total value of the contract as bribe, he has therefore denied the most competent company the opportunity to execute the contract and robbed the nation the necessary advancement, development and essential necessities and dividends of democracy’, he said.
He therefore recommended that government for instance should be faithful to its statutory role of an impartial arbiter who should not meddle unnecessarily in dispute resolution procedures and if it must, should endeavour to demonstrate more sincerity in collective bargaining procedures.
Prof Adeyeye also suggested that the extant labour laws from Factories Act and Trade Disputes Act to the Employees’ Compensation Act should be reviewed and be applied in sanctioning erring employers and employees while government policy of ‘’No-Work-No-Pay’’ should be engaged to discourage strike actions that fail to follow due process.
Other recommendations include to respect corporate governance in order to discourage impunity on the part of government officials particularly the very senior ones while tasking employers of labour to ensure that a conducive atmosphere is provided for all.
For the society to be exonerated of bastardisation, Adeyeye noted that there is the need for moral and value reorientation, adding that people should also assist the government in its current efforts to cleanse the nation of its impunity.