The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) is currently ranked as one of the best quality service providers in the country; and this has been attributed by many analysts, to a number of factors, including President Bola Tinubu’s serious attention on the agency as part of his overall commitment to the security and safety of the country; the vision and focus of the new management led by Prof. Charles Anosike as well as the competence and dedication of the agency’s workforce.
It is regrettable however, that while NiMet boasts of having a huge number of patriotic and committed staff, the agency is also home to a few unpatriotic and malicious labour leaders who often resort to cheap blackmail and threat of strike, in attempt to arm-twist the management, for self-serving reasons, rather than overall interest of workers.
In addition, there have been insinuations that not less than two sneaky management staff with vested interest in the leadership of the agency, are in bed with the labour leaders, fanning embers of discord, to sabotage efforts of management and in the process, revert gains being recorded.
A report by a major Nigerian newspaper on Sunday, April 13, 2025, has it that three out of the five Unions that make up the Joint Action Committee on the NiMet labour basket, issued a four-working- day warning to the agency’s management, threatening to resume a previously suspended strike over alleged failure to keep to bargaining agreement signed earlier this year.
It would be recalled that the so-called suspended strike was planned by the unions to begin on Tuesday 4th February, 2025, a day officially designated for the Agency’s Public Unveiling of the 2025 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP). Following outcry and condemnation by both staff of NiMet and other publics of the agency, the unions withdrew their threat and obvious blackmail.
The current threat letter was signed jointly signed by the National Union of Air Transport Employees, the Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals, and the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical, and Recreational Services Employees. The other two unions abstained from the malicious letter.
The newspaper report said that the current letter was dated April 10, 2025 and quoted the union’s to have expressed deep disappointment in NiMet’s management, accusing it of breaching the terms of an agreement reached on January 28, 2025.
Before we look at the listed grievances of the unions, it is important to recall that the NiMet Unions Joint Action Committee, including the three unions that issued the latest threat letter, had, a few months ago, precisely on 12th August, 2024, commended NiMet Management for its labour friendly disposition. They also expressed appreciation and profound gratitude to NiMet’s management under the leadership of Prof. Charles Anosike, for its efforts that led to the payment of the outstanding minimum wage arrears owed to staff from 2019 to 2022 and other related issues. “This significant action has greatly alleviated the financial challenges faced by our workforce and has renewed our hope and commitment to serving the nation with excellence,” the Joint Action Committee had stated.
It is therefore surprising that in its current threat letter, the three unions said- “We are highly disheartened to note that the management has reneged on its promises to the workers vide the agreement it signed with our unions on 28th January 2025.”
There is a need to ask leaders of the three unions whether they were sleeping or under some sort of influence when they heaped praises on the management on NiMet in a letter they addressed to Prof. Anosike in which they said as follows- “Your efforts to advocate on behalf of the employees and ensure that these arrears were paid reflect your deep commitment to the agency and its people. We are fortunate to have a leader who places such high value on the welfare and morale of his team. The resolution of this issue has not only eased the financial burden on NiMet staff but has also strengthened our resolve to continue delivering high-quality meteorological services to the nation. We are motivated and inspired by your collective efforts and pledge to continue our work with renewed hope, dedication, and enthusiasm. We extend our heartfelt thanks to each of you for your invaluable contributions to this cause. Your actions have made a significant difference in the lives of many, and for that, we are deeply appreciative”.
Now to the main issues. The warning letter, according to the unions, was necessitated by what they described as the management’s failure to fulfil its commitment to negotiate and implement allowances.
There is hardly any civil servant in Nigeria that is not conversant with federal government’s pattern of funds releases to ministries, departments and agencies. For 2025, government just started releases barely few weeks ago (first week of March) and these are mainly overhead costs for February. Most agencies are still expecting their March overhead. For a Union to issue warning strike in April 2025, on discussions held in January 2025 involving, not overheads but entitlements that require budgetary appropriation and due process before releases, cannot be dismissed as mere ignorance but is loaded with elements of malice and treachery.
Another eye-raising issue in the letter is training of workers. This is because, a simple Google search on the activities of NiMet would reveal that the agency has sponsored more than 1,000 staff on various categories of training in the last one year, aimed at improving performance and motivating staff.
The Director of Human Resources of the agency, Dr. Nasiru Sani, disclosed this in an interview with journalists and thanked Professor Charles Anosike for his support in improving the capacity of the staff. The training of 1,000 staff within one year, which no other federal government agency can boast to have achieved in recent times, was also acknowledged by the union leaders in another letter to the management.
“We note with appreciation that management followed through with training for GL08/09 but instead of continuing with GL10-14, we are unhappy that management is scheduling another retreat….”
Is it that the union leaders are not aware that trainings and retreats are budgeted for, scheduled and captured in budgetary allocations? If in 2024, over 1,000 staff are trained by the management as planned and executed, are the unions expecting that management should go to Central Bank or any bank for that matter and cart away money to send workers on training when the allocation for such trainings for 2025 has not been released? Is it the job of the unions to determine whether or not management should embark on retreat to update members on the way forward for efficiency and improved productivity? This is even more surprising when one recalls that a huge number of NiMet staff did not benefit from any form of training for 10 to 15 years before the current management led by Prof. Anosike. Why didn’t the unions fight the previous managements for the benefit of their members?
It is unbelievable that workers unions would state in their letter that one of the reasons they are threatening to embark on strike is suspicion that ‘management may not be serious with an ongoing process of resolving issues contained in earlier agreement. According to the unions- “We have reason to suspect foul play as the management despite persistent requests, has refused to release copies of the document due to our unions signatories to the same document,” the letter further read.
They also demanded the inclusion of 30 names that were previously omitted from the 2019 minimum wage payment list. This rather laughable, in the sense that in a previous letter to the unions, management of NiMet had said that the 30 names were omitted by the unions themselves and that when the matter came up, the management took it up and got it resolved, adding that the names have been duly captured for payment, waiting for cash-backing.
According to a report by a national newspaper on the warning letter- “One of the NiMet staff confirmed that a key component of the workers’ demands, the 25–35 per cent wage increase, is yet to be paid, although it has reportedly been approved.”
The above report on the statement by ‘one NiMet staff’ further buttresses the fact that the warning strike is a malicious blackmail by the union and betrays a black sheep in the house, for the fact that ‘the staff’ said the 25-35 per cent wage increase “has yet to be paid, although it has reportedly been approved.” That the management of NiMet has worked assiduously to ensure that the increase was approved should elicit commendation from the unions. The payment however is expected to be made when released by the government and it is the duty of the union to monitor the process and raise alarm, only if it was released and not paid, rather than embark on preemptive action when the relevant releases have not been made.
Perhaps the most unreasonable aspect of the grievances of the union leaders is what they termed management refusal to ‘meet with our union over these issues.’
How true is it that management refused to meet with the unions when they acknowledged through various letters, successes recorded in 2024, especially with the payment of the legacy 45 months arrears owed staff since 2019? The unions themselves stated in their letters as quoted above that the successes were recorded with the collaborative efforts/meetings between them and NiMet management.
In addition, an earlier response by the management to their demands, had that further meetings have been held by both parties on the listed issues with management updating the Union of the status, adding that Management has also incorporated the executives of the agency-based unions in its management meetings to allow for free and timely flow of information. What more can union leaders ask for, from management?
While we encourage government and leadership of ministries and agencies to embrace dialogue and continuous engagement with workers, especially on issues of their entitlements and allowances, the resort to threat of strikes, not as a last option, but without concrete reasons or as a cheap blackmailing tool of exertion, is highly condemnable.
Wakili El-Habib writes from Abuja. Email: habibwakiliali@gmail.Com