Labour tackles Baba Ijebu over unfair practices ---Vanguard

NATIONAL Union of Lottery Agents and Employees, NULAE, has threatened to cripple the operations of Premier Lotto, also known as Baba Ijebu, over alleged unfair labour practices. This came as the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, NLRC, wrote the company to rescind every action against members of NULAE especially agents and report any grouse with such agents to the commission.
NULAE which had earlier handed a 7-ultimatum to Premier Lotto, said in a letter by its General Secretary, Olatunji Gregory, to the Chairman of the company, complained of alleged illegal and unlawful blocking of parameters belonging to principal officers and other members of the union because of their union activities. After detailing alleged offences of the company, it claimed that on “Wednesday March 2016 9, your management sent bulk SMS to all agents of Premier lotto against the union for embracing lottery agents data capturing which is a directive of Federal Government through the Nigeria Lottery Regulatory Commission as a measure to sanitize the Industry and build confidence to both investors and stakers.” The union noted among others, lamented that all efforts to addressing the grievances were rebuffed by the management and demanded immediate and unconditional restoration of these PARAMETERS and blocking of the winnings of the agents to avoid unpleasant reactions. Meanwhile, NLRC, in a letter to the Chairman of Premier Lotto Limited, acknowledged receipt of complaints of NULAE, and advised Premier Lotto to immediately restore the operational status of the affected agents. In the letter by the Director General of NLRC, Adolphus Jo Ekpe, it urged Premier Lott to  report to the Commission any grouse (if any) against the affected agents. According to the letter, “I am to emphasize that the mapping exercise is a project of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, aimed at sanitizing the lottery industry in Nigeria for the maximum benefit of all stakeholders. Therefore, victimizing any person or group of persons on account of support for the success of the project (as herein alleged) will not only amount to challenging the authority of the Federal Government of Nigeria, but also a gross disservice to the industry.