Day: October 5, 2023

Osagie Okunbor, Managing Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, has tasked Human Resources (HR) practitioners to deepen their professional knowledge to tackle the disruptive demands of the ever-changing business environment.

Okunbor said this at a forum organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) in Lagos on Wednesday.

The Shell MD said the advice was critical because Human Resources took a central role to help organisations transit and prepare for technology and other disruptive business realities.

According to him, business realities is underpinned by volatility and uncertainty, therefore organisations require the best degree of HR resilience to cope with with happenings.

“Today’s business realities involve volatile and uncertain globalisation, inflation, war for talent, technology disruptions and artificial intelligence advancements.

“2023 and beyond demands a high level of HR innovation and disruption hence the need to rethink HR.

“This involves rethinking organisations culture and leadership, pushing boundaries to power organisational agility, acquire cross functional aptitude, unleash digitalisation, elevate HR decision science, prioritise inclusion and embrace perpetual work reinvention,” he said.

Okunbor also tasked HR professionals to align strategies with organisational goals and ensure that talents were properly managed and preserved to save the future of organisations and government.

“What worries me the most is how much we spend training children abroad and talents exported with no plans of their coming back.

“If care is not taken, talent may become a big issue for us in the future in corporate organisations and even government.

“HR professionals must begin to leverage data science to drive credible people outcomes,” he said.

President, CIPM, Mr Olusegun Mojeed, said the forum was organised to help the institute connect better with the business community in Nigeria.

“One major priority to me and the team is stakeholders engagement at various levels.

“We did our stakeholders mapping and realised that we needed to connect with business owners and leaders who employ people.

“As the leading people management institute, our core function does not end with just engaging our members and providing the needed professional support.

“It also involves connecting with people managers across board, especially those who may not necessarily be HR professionals,” Mojeed said.

Malam Ibrahim Dasuki Arabi, Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms, urged the CIPM on the professionalism and certification of HR profession in the public sector across all levels- states and local government.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Mr Chukwudi Ezugu, the National Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Civil Engineers (NICE), says both concrete and asphalt pavements are good for road construction.

Ezugu made this clarification on Wednesday in Abuja, on the sidelines of the 21st International Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Institution.

The theme of the conference is “Trends in Sustainable Civil Engineering Infrastructure for Economic Growth’’.

He spoke against the backdrop of the trending debate about the use of concrete or asphalt pavements in the construction of the nation’s highways.

According to Ezugu, the two are different road pavements and are used for different conditions of roads.

“If the load on the road is quite high concrete pavement would be preferable, it is also more durable but the cost is much higher but flexible pavement also has a life span of 20-25 years.

“So, basically there are some roads which are arterial for high traffic you may have to make that decision to do that investment.

“Basically, what we are saying here is that this will depend on the study, because there are experts that study each of this situation with the client agreeing based on the economies and its serviceability.

“Nothing is actually permanent so, if you have to do a project that has to last for 20 to 25 years, it is possible that after that, you may even like to restructure the project in itself, redesign for one thing or the other.

Speaking on the relevance of the theme of the conference, the national chairman said it was geared toward economic development taking into cognisance new technologies and new materials.

“Including local ones and also ways of funding infrastructure, it must be sustainable infrastructure.

“We need infrastructure, which we develop and which will not constitute a problem to the future generation.

“In other words, the materials you use should not endanger the environment or the future and all these is geared toward forming the bedrock for economic development,”Ezugu said.

He further said that adequate civil infrastructure was known to be the foundation of any vibrant and strong economy and the socioeconomic status of any nation was measured by its degree of infrastructural development.

He said the conference would look at the challenges of impoverished civil engineering development and proffer solutions to change the narrative through the use of innovation, local material and alternative funding.

Also speaking at the conference, the President of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mr Tasiu Gidari-Wudil, said the worth of any society was dependent on the infrastructure it parades.

He was represented at the conference by Mr Chinasaokwu Okoli, Vice President, NSE.

He said it could be engineering infrastructure, medical infrastructure, economic infrastructure, legal or financial stressing that all the infrastructure resolve around the engineering infrastructure.

‘This is because it is what gives the platform on which a society can boast that they are okay. What we doing here is that the experts are speaking to themselves and at the end of this conference there will be a communiqué.

“Which will be passed on to the government, the people that formulate the policies and drive the policy there are people that implement it and there are people that monitor it.

“So we are all stakeholders at the end of the day the conference will come up with a communiqué on which subject experts must have brainstormed and bring the way forward.

On the issue of concrete or asphalt he said nothing is wrong with either of the method, adding that the society was planning on organising a national discourse on it soon.

“There is nothing wrong with flexible pavement there is nothing wrong with rigid pavement but when the core subject experts meet they will advise on which one is advisable.

“It is not a one fit all solution, there are places we see that rigid pavement is more economical, there are places that flexible pavement is more economical.

“Whatever an engineer is doing he is looking at the economy with functionality and durability, sustainability casts it all, so we will be coming up with some statements that will advise the government as subject experts.

“It will be a win-win for all of us, and kudos to the Minister of Works for bringing up this issue, this is what happens all over the world that is because he is a subject expert,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Federal Government has announced a special grant of N25,000 each to improve the lives of vulnerable pensioners in the country.

The grant, will be disbursed under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Scheme of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

The Minister, Dr Betta Edu, announced this when she met with the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress, (NLC), led by its President, Mr Joe Ajaero in Abuja.

“President Bola Tinubu mentioned very clearly that vulnerable pensioners should be immediately captured on the National social Register and benefit from the CCT.

“As part of social safety net, this was made clear in his speech on Independence Day where he committed 25000 Naira for 15million household for three months”, she said.

Edu informed the leadership of labour union that the desire to expand the national social register to include vulnerable pensioners in the CCT scheme was encapsulated in the renewed hope agenda.

She therefore appealed to the NLC to help fast-track the process of collating Data of would-be vulnerable pensioners beneficiaries so that they can start receiving CCT.

“I want us to fast-track this, so that we are sure the expected beneficiaries can start receiving their stipends from next month which is November” Edu said.

The minister commended Ajaero for being a team player.

According to her, the task of moving Nigeria forward was a collective one.

She therefore urged NLC leadership to continue to have faith in the Tinubu Administration.

In his response, Ajaero expressed delight at the various poverty alleviation and job creation schemes rolled out by the Humanitarian Ministry.

The labour leader however said, identifying the root cause of poverty would go a long way in addressing the challenge in the country.

“Let’s look at not only how to solve this problem, but the cause of the problem, Let us look at other social welfare interventions and job creation that will go a long way to support families” he said.

He urged the federal government to create more productive economy by creating more Jobs to ensure prosperous nation.

Ajaero thanked the Minister for being the first member of the federal executive council to visit the labour house in President Tinubu’s Administration.

”For finding time to visit the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, we will work with you to achieve success in this process and your impact will be felt” Ajaero said.

Also speaking, President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Mr Godwin Abumisi, thanked the federal government for finding the retirees worthy of government social intervention programme.

According to him, Pensioners recieved as low as between five and ten thousand Naira a month.

”Twenty five thousand Naira is a big money to them”, Abumisi said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria