The acting Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Mr. Bitrus Dawuk, says modalities are in place to allocate 60 per cent of jobs in each free trade zone across the country to host communities.

Dawuk made The disclosure followed a recent labour crisis at the Ogun-Guandong Free Zone, Igbesa, Ogun State, weeks after youth in Calabar Free Trade Zone protested against handlers of the trade zone.

He attributed the industrial dispute between the workers and management of Goodwin Ceramic Free Zone Enterprise located in the zone to the extension of the lockdown to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.

He said the development had prompted several workers of the enterprise mostly from the North- east demanding additional payment to stay or vacate the zone.

According to a statement by Dawuk all attempts to pacify the aggrieved workers by the management and security agencies proved abortive.

The authority expressed dismay that its policy on 60 per cent recruitment of people from the catchment area was not fully enforced by the free zone enterprise. He said it will ensure full implementation of its policy to avoid a repetition of protests from host communities of the Free Trade Zones.

Dawuk said: “Until this dispute, it was not obvious that more than 80 per cent of the workers of the Enterprise of Ogun-Guandong Free Zone were not from the catchment area. The current resident zone administrator said he inherited the problem when he assumed duty in December 2019 after the retirement of the immediate past resident zone administrator.

“The Authority is already putting a mechanism and template to redress the situation to ensure that youth within the vicinity and location of any zone in the country regulated by the Authority are given 60 per cent of all job slots, while 40 per cent will be distributed to other parts of the country.”

The management of the company had however clarified that the decision to engage workers from other parts of the country was due to the fact that indigenes of the host community were often not willing to take up available jobs or not committed to do their jobs.

It said before the lockdown, the company provided free accommodation and highly subsidised feeding to about 80 per cent of the workers because they are not from the host state.

It said its refusal to pay N200,000 demanded by the workers April 13, aside the improved feeding and a payment of a full month salary was the major cause of the unreasonable industrial unrest.