Reduction of workdays will make workers unproductive – NPC

Director-General, National Productivity Centre (NPC), Nasir Raji-Mustapha, yesterday said reduction of workdays would make workers unproductive.

Some states had reduced workdays as part of the measures to cushion the effect of the recent fuel price hike triggered by the removal of the petrol subsidy. But the NPC DG said Nigeria lacked suitable infrastructure that could enable employees to work from home.

He spoke to reporters yesterday on the sideline of a management training on performance management systems and productivity and quality improvement tools and techniques.

The training, organised by the NPC, took place at Anti-Corruption Academy, Keffi, Nasarawa State.

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“The truth is that, work now is beyond physical work. Going to the office every day to do your work. You can work even when you are at home but there are issues around that in Nigeria.

“For us in this country, you need to have enough infrastructure to be able to work from home. So, reducing the number of days of work is not creative at all for a country like Nigeria.

“To reduce the number of days your workers will work, you should give them the facilities, the infrastructure that would enable them to work online.

“All over the world now, people are canvassing for less physical work places. You can work from any place. The most important thing is to meet up your target when a target is set for you,” he said.

He urged state governors to put in place infrastructure that would make it easier for employees to go to their places of employment for the allotted amount of time under the ILO convention.