Welcome to Sam Obukelihor's Blog

I arrived the commercial capital of Nigeria on January 11, 1988 armed with a B.Sc. (HONS) degree in Sociology and Anthropology. There were two major trending jobs then:- - Audit Trainee - Banking and Finance Houses marketing positions. Between 1988 and 1989 I wrote over 150 job applications and one thing I did not do was applying for the trending job of the time. At that time, there  were Labour Exchanges you could walk into and register to Job openings. I got my first job from there as a Sales Manager selling a single book. Most of the job interviews I attended, the employers were asking for Masters degree which I never had. The above notwithstanding, I had a multitude of menial jobs before I went for Post Graduate studies. I jettison man - know - man in job hunting when I lost two major jobs due to over reliance on connections. I had the following jobs during this period:- - "Jeun-Jeun" teaching in three study centers at ago. - Sales Manager in a publishing c

While the law says in S.20(1)(a) to inform the Union, we did not. Secondly, while the subsisting Collective Agreement said two (2) months basic salary in lieu of notice, we paid one (1) month basic. At the Conciliation meeting, management spokesman spoke only "Grammar" in the face of management folly. The matter was settled when the Union said it cannon meet the condition for the reinstatement of her members. I suggested to the chagrin of management team that all staff affected by the redundancy exercise refund their payoff and would be reinstated immediately. The General Secretary of the Union was livid at my wicked suggestion, stating that I was the devil himself. According to him, it was because I knew they have spent the money that was why I was offering that unattainable condition. When the Director of the Federal Ministry of Labour suggested that the Union advance her members soft loans to facilitate the reinstatement, the General Secretary of the Union resp

Arising from the blunders in MISTAKES 1, the Union declared a trades dispute against the company. The Union's Contentions were:- 1. That management did not inform her before carrying out a redundancy exercise as required by law. 2. That management paid one (1) month basic salary in lieu of notice instead of two (2) months as per the subsisting Collective Agreement. 3. That all affected staff be reinstated. In preparing for Conciliation at the Federal Ministry of Labour, we confirmed that what the Union said in No. 2 above was correct As regards No. 1 above, we had a disagreement within the management team What was the outcome of the Conciliation meeting? Read MISTAKES 3 next week.

I carried out a redundancy exercise in one of the Divisions in a Conglomerate I worked and committed three blunders. They were:- 1. In preparing the redundancy letters, I closed the letters in the name of another Division. 2. I sat in a meeting in which management informed the Branch Union executives. 3. I paid one (1) month basic salary in lieu of notice to all affected staff. What was the outcome of the last two blunders? Next week in MISTAKES 2