The Federal Government and labour organisations have held a retreat in Abuja to review obsolete labour laws to conform to international best practices and current realities in the world of work.
The retreat was held under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in conjunction with the social partners, which included the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ,Trade Union Congress (TUC), and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).
According to a communique issued after the retreat, five National Labour Bills were considered at the three-day retreat, and these bills include: Collective Labour Relations Bill, Labour Standards Bill, Labour Institutions Bill, Occupational Safety and Health Bill and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (Amendment) Act.
In his speech, the NLC President, Wabba said the essence was to review stale labour laws and bring extant labour laws in Nigeria up to speed with international labour standards and global good practices.
Wabba said: “There is no gainsaying the fact that labour laws reviews represent the most critical verve of labour relations in any clime. The fate of millions of workers, their
families and businesses depend on the recommendations and proposals we will make during the course of this retreat.
With the alarming rate of unemployment in Nigeria, experts have said there is need for people, especially youths to embrace entrepreneurship and develop skills needed to become employers, TOBA AGBOOLA writes.
Uemployment rate in Nigeria has grown sporadically over the years.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment rate in the country may hit 33.5 per cent this year.
NBS also stated that the high unemployment rate of 23.1 per cent, and underemployment of 16.6 per cent as at the end of last year was alarming
The NBS report also showed that about 45 million Nigerians are unemployed.
This, according to experts, is a time bomb that will soon explode, if urgent steps are not taken to address it. They called for increased entrepreneurial skills, especially among youths to address this scourge.
The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Ayuba Wabba told The Nation that Nigeria must create four million new jobs yearly to make any dent in the ballooning unemployment figures. This, he said, is exclusive of any loss of already existing jobs.
And if new jobs must be created, he said, then the country needs more employers to absorb people in the employment market.
Also, a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu, said: “If we have such army of underemployed, the crisis of unemployment has assumed tragic proportions in forms of various mass crimes as restless youths swell the ranks of kidnappers and insurgent.”
All tiers of government, he added, must rise to promote development through re-industrialisation, uninterrupted electricity supply and war against which make the products of local industries uncompetitive.
”There is an urgent need for a bipartisan employment drive in the country. Sustainable jobs can only come from industry and massive public infrastructural development such as railways, roads construction, reinvention of public schools and hospitals. All the issues in unemployment crisis are governance issues which task the responsibilities and sensitivities of the Federal as well as state governments of the federation,” he said.
Aremu said Nigeria has the largest domestic market in Africa, a wide range of natural resources, and a diversely skilled labour pool.
To this end, he said, the country must create new jobs, and diversify the industrial and commercial sector to take advantage of human and natural resources.
“The entrepreneurial activities have been found to be capable of making impact on the economy of a nation and quality of life of the people through economic growth; employment generation and empowerment of the disadvantaged segment of the population, which include women and the poor, “he said.
He said entrepreneurial development would encourage entrepreneurs to create new enterprises, new commercial activities, and new economic sectors, as they would generate jobs for others; produce goods and services for society; introduce new technologies and improve or lower cost out puts; and earn foreign exchange through export expansion or the substitution of imports.
The Director-General, Nigeria Employers Consultative Council, (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawale, said skill acquisition and entrepreneurship is the way to go in a country where getting a job is like rocket science.
To him, there are over 23.4million unemployed youths in the country. He said of the 500,000 youths that graduate from the university yearly, less than 10 per cent get a job.
He said one of the major ways to deal with the unemployment rate is entrepreneurship through human capital development.
”The degree certificate is not enough these days, thus graduates need new skills set to survive, “ he said.
The President, Business Club, Ikeja (BCI), Mr. Leke Odude, urged the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO) to partner the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on entrepreneurship.
Odude added that this would sensitise and mobilise young graduates right from the NYSC camp on skill acquisition yearly, and curb crime rate as it would make graduates to become self-reliant upon passing out from youth service.
Olawale called for the adoption of vocational and technical skills in tertiary institutions to prepare young graduates for employment, while bridging the gap between the knowledge acquired from the academic institutions and the demands of the workplace.
“It is very important universities adopt these training for their graduating students, the students are not ready for the job, they need some set of skills that will make them employable and it is important we prepare these young executives for life after school,” he said.
Olawale lamented lack of employable skills in graduating students, saying the skills are the determining factors of whether they succeed or fail in and outside the workplace.
He said embracing vocational and technical skills is one way of dealing with the unemployment issue in the country, stressing that the education system curriculum does not encourage skill acquisition, training and development, which would make graduates employable after their tertiary education.
He said: “I believe that it is through entrepreneurship that we can accelerate job creation and national development. There is no better time than now to seriously consider and undertake your own entrepreneurial journeys. The immense support systems available today cannot be over-emphasised.”
Recently, the Chief Executive Officer, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mr Tony Elumelu, said only entrepreneurship could transform African continent from its economic challenges.
Elumelu said: “From our thriving markets to the new generation of African multinationals, Africa is showing that economic and social transformation is within our grasp and is being driven by Africans.”
African political leaders, he said, are beginning to understand that by unleashing entrepreneurship, creating enabling environments and ensuring that business does well and actively contributes to well-being, the continent’s future will be transformed.
According to him, the foundation is a product of his conviction that the private sector holds the key to unlocking the transformation and economic development of the continent, as captured in the thinking of Africapitalism.
According to Aremu, an entrepreneurship is the foundation of any developed nation and that for Nigeria to reap the benefits of a dynamic and evolving economy, however, require the overcoming of entrenched social, financial and political hurdles.
The government, he said, must improve the ease of doing business by developing and implementing more pro-market policies and making the entire business environment more attractive to investors.
“Also, improvements and reforms in education and international participation are crucial for Nigeria to shake off its third world heritage and achieve the full breadth of its economic potential,” he said.
Skilled human resources drive economic growth.Therefore, Nigeria must prioritise human capital development to achieve that objective,TOBA AGBOOLA writes.
Human beings are the most important and promising source of productivity and economic growth. Equipment and technology are products of human minds and can only be made productive by people.
Therefore, the success of any productive programme depends on human innovative ideas and creativity.
Human capital is an important factor used in converting all resources to mankind’s use and benefit. Economists observed that the development and utilisation of human capital is important in a nation’s economic growth.
Experts believe stakeholders need to evolve a more pragmatic means of developing human capabilities, since it is seen as an important tool for economic growth.
While canvassing proper institutional framework to look into the manpower needs of the various sectors, they called for implementation of policies that will lead to the overall growth of the economy.
They said two key barometers to gauge the development of human capital are education and health. It is therefore unfortunate that Nigeria, as a country, has performed woefully in those two key areas.
While education and heath sectors are underfunded by government at federal, states and local levels, the little funding appropriated for these sectors by public and private sector players were mismanaged, leading to dearth of human capital.
Tertiary institutions are churning out half-baked graduates that are less useful in the labour market, while capital flight continues to dominate the health sector in the country with Nigerians seeking medical attention abroad, even as most qualified doctors in the country keep moving abroad at the slightest opportunity.
An academic, Ojo Johnson Adelakun, noted that, as the global economy shifts towards more knowledge-based sectors, such as: the manufacture of ICT devices, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and other ICT- based services, research and development (R&D), among others, skills and human capital development become central issues for policy makers and practitioners engaged in economic development both at the national and regional level.
Nigeria as a country, he added, is immensely endowed both in natural and human resources and that the pool of resources from one end to the other is unquantifiable to such extent that, given a dynamic leadership, economic prosperity would have been achieved in late 20th century.
Proffering solutions to the dearth of human capital in the country, he said: “What really matters in Nigeria is the empowerment of people and the mobilisation of economic surplus into productive investment channels.
There is also the need for the Nigerian economy to eliminate or minimise those constraints towards human capital development so as to enhance rapid economic growth.”
Recommending that efforts be geared toward improving the standard of education in Nigeria, he added that substantial amount of government budgetary allocation should be directed towards the education sector, calling for establishment of special agencies with the responsibility of improving the skills and capabilities of human capital in the country.
Director-General, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawale identified lack of funding as the major problem of human capital.
This, he said, has led to shortage of skilled personnel, unemployment and poverty, believing that there can be no significant growth in any country without adequate investment in human capital.
“A typical example is the Asian tigers, Taiwan, Singapore; whose economies experienced sharp improvements via substantial investment in human capital.
It was recommended by the United Nations that developing countries should invest a minimum of 26 per cent on education and the World Health Organisation (WHO) specified at least five per cent on health,” he pointed out. Nigeria, he said, has not been able to meet this benchmark.
In order to increase the enrolment rate in institutions of learning, he said there is need for the implementation of the free Universal Basic Education (UBE) and free health care programmes at the federal, state and local government levels.
Then, government should create an enabling environment to encourage private sector investment in the education and health sectors, he stressed.
“Above all, a major bane to the progress of the Nigerian economy is corruption. It is recommended that the government should see to the level of corruption in the education and health sector; there should be proper machinery put in place and a system that severely punishes corrupt officials,” he advised.
Chairman, Africa Oil & Gas Talent Summit(AOGS) Advisory Council, Mr. Felix Amieyeofori identified human capital development as key to grow the country’s oil industry, thereby, challenging the Federal Government and other stakeholders to give it a topmost attention.
This, he said, has become necessary, especially as, people are the real assets in any economy.
He said the nation’s oil and gas industry currently needs very skillful human capital to drive operations while delivering value to stakeholders.
Amieyeofori, who regretted that the country has been ranked as one of the least in human capital index, said: “Nigeria is ranked 152 out of 157 countries on the World Bank 2018/19 Human Capital Index list.
Nigeria shared the bottom of the index with countries like Chad, South Sudan, Niger, Mali, and Liberia. Of the 85.08 million Labour force by third quarter 2017, only 7.14 per cent work in any form of industry, including the oil and gas industry.”
But the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, said the Federal Government has made significant increases in capital allocations in human capital-related sectors in the last three years in spite of dwindling revenues. This is to demonstrate its commitment to improving human capital development at the national level.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has increased the capital expenditure for health and education.
Meanwhile, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) said the Federal Government must invest more in the development of the citizens.
According to its President, Malachy Ugwummadu, capital development is a foundation for human development. He said the urgency of now demands that the government creates an enabling economic environment to be able to drive the needed human capital development.
Advising the Federal Government, he said: “You have the support of the international community. The Nigerian private sector will continue to invest. We are eager to help, but we know we can’t lead. You must lead.
“I believe in the grand vision of Nigeria’s future. I believe in it because I’ve seen it. It’s represented by this line — the line that depends on healthy, educated people and the surge of economic activity they will unleash.
And that means that the future depends on all of you — and your leadership in the years to come.”
Minister of Labour and Productivity Dr. Chris Ngige has said the Federal Government is deeply concerned about the alarming unemployment rate on the continent
He said it is working with African leaders to address the intractable unemployment challenge comprehensively and holistically through well targeted interventions.
Speaking at the sixth Africa Social Partners Summit on Job Creation in Africa, organised by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Council (NECA), at Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Ngige said the government has reviewed the National Employment Policy. He said the review was borne out of the need to come up with additional strategies that would be adopted to further stimulate employment and raise the labour absorption capacity of the economy.
“It was also intended to develop new strategies which will address the challenges of unemployment , under-employment and poverty, while creating economic opportunities for productive and remunerative employment for Nigerians.
“The government is conscious of the fact that most of the unemployed are those without functional skills.
“Our strategies therefore is to equip the unemployed youths with market-driven skills which facilitates access to self or paid employment,” Ngige said.
The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who attended the summit, said wages in Africa were the poorest around the world, saying for a continent endowed with enormous mineral and human resources, this is totally unacceptable.
“It is sad that while other regions have deservedly elevated the wage discourse to decent and living wages, many African governments and employers still see minimum wage as some sort of luxury for workers. Workers all over Africa demand for wage justice.
“We appreciate our social partners in Nigeria for facilitating a new national minimum wage of N30,000 for workers. We urge social partners all over the continent to take seriously the issue of wage justice.
In a continent where periodic review of national minimum wage has become the mother of all struggles, we must question our commitment to a truly inspiring economic growth and creating the much-needed jobs.
“In order to create sustainable jobs for Africa’s teeming youth, African governments must create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
We call on our governments to fix and expand existing infrastructure especially roads, rails, and electricity which are critical for industrialisation.
We stress on affordable power. Government must provide the power to power the aspirations of millions of our youth. We must also avoid multiple taxation as it increases the cost of doing business in Africa.
“While we support government initiatives on the ease of doing business, we must build the infrastructure for the future we desire.
If we reduce the high incidence of official corruption, there will be enough funds to fund economic growth and bring about shared prosperity.
“Whatever we do, we must ensure that the quantum leap in human population in Africa must not lag behind proactive visioning and action by government.
We must plan and act like tomorrow is already here because Africa’s tomorrow is already at the door heavily pregnant,” he said.
Ms Cynthia Samuel-Olonjuwon of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said constructive social dialogue was key to the implementation of Africa transformation agenda.
Also, the Assistant Director-General and Regional Director for Africa, Samuel-Olonjuwon, said such agenda would require collaboration among governments, employers and workers.
“It requires the contribution of proactive, effective, representative employers and workers organisations. It requires a spirit of constructive collaboration, where different interests are able to meet for a common good and goal.
“As social partners, you have a key role to play in demanding, but also inspiring and facilitating the kinds of reforms that will meet the decent jobs challenge in Africa,” she said.
The Director-General, NECA, Mr. Timothy Olawale, said the task of jobs creation was collaborative between the private and public sector.
“Though, we know, the private sector is the real sector of the economy, the government has a role which is very critical.
“For the private sector to create employment, it must be able to work in an enabling environment for it to do its business and for businesses to thrive and survive and to sustain those jobs they have created.
“The starting point is for government to create an enabling environment by ensuring that businesses thrive in the economy, competitive and sustainable.
“This is done through the policy direction of government,” Olawale said.
Workers in the food sector have charged the Federal Government to upgrade the standard of local products. This, according to the them, would minimise Nigerians’ taste for foreign products,
Speaking at the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), its President, Comrade Lateef Oyelekan, said the government must prevail upon the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and NAFDAC to gear up towards ensuring the upgrade of the standard of local and imported goods, in accordance with international standards.
The union, which commended the continued closure of land borders, noted that Nigeria has the capacity to produce food, beverages, wines and other items.
Oyelekan lamented that Nigeria has turned a dumping ground for foreign products, but reasoned that it could be discouraged through upgrading standards, and proper monitoring of borders.
He said members of the union would continue to support the border closure which, he said, has curbed smugglers, who specialised in beverages, wines, spirits, rice, petroleum products, arms and ammunition.
He noted that the government’s policy on backward integration has started yielding positive results as there are companies producing tomato paste using 100 per cent local raw materials.
“As we have often said, Nigeria has no reason to import finished food products, as our companies have the capacity to support the local needs. The tomato factory in Adamawa State provides jobs for over 3,000 workers. That is the advantage of supporting local production,” he said.
Oyelekan stated that the union was delighted that the Federal Government could reinstate the forex windows to the producers of dairy and confectionery products, which he said, was in response to the union’s massive campaigns against the misdirected policy of the government.
The union, however, expressed dissatifaction on the un-abating insecurity bedevilling the country, despite huge human and financial resources reported to have been deployed by the government in tackling the national menace.
“We implores the Federal Government to review and change their strategies in tackling the prevalent scourge of hydra headed insecurity monster across the country,” the president stated.
Similarly, the union urged Federal Government to redouble its efforts in ensuring steady electric power supply across the country, stating that this would attract employment opportunities for Nigerians.
The persistent influx of expatriates into the country despite the promulgation of the Executive Order “5” by the Federal Government was also considered as a minus to the efforts of government. He called for strict monitoring to ensure total adherence and respect to that important executive order.
Plans are underway by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to partner the National Assembly on the amendment of the Employees Compensation Act 2010, to include the power to prosecute establishments that fail to join the Employees’ Compensation Scheme (ECS).
The Managing Director of the Fund, Adebayo Somefun, who made this known in Abuja, said the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, would soon lead the board and management of the scheme on a nationwide advocacy visit to governors on the need for them to join the scheme.
He explained that the visit would afford the governors the opportunity to understand the essence of the ECS and how their workforce could benefit from it, especially workers that sustain injuries.
Somefun said the fund was collaborating with the National Industrial Court to boost enrolment into the ECS.
According to him, the broadening of ECA 2010 will boost the efficiency of the Fund in terms of prosecution of defaulters. However, he said the focus of the Fund is on moral persuasion and usage of testimonials of its achievements to convince establishments to join the scheme rather than prosecution.
His words: “The Employees Compensation Act 2010 does not empower us to sanction establishments that fail to comply with workplace occupational safety standards. All it says is that we should combine efforts and resources of relevant stakeholders with a view to preventing workplace disabilities and enforcement of occupational health and standards. It didn’t give us the right to prosecute them. Even companies that do not contribute, we don’t have the right to seal their premises. This is why we try to use moral persuasion and advocacy to achieve our aim.
”The moral persuasion and the testimonials of how the Scheme is bringing joy and happiness to families that suddenly lose their breadwinners have indeed played a major role in the repositioning of the NSITF for greater achievements within the last two and half years we have been appointed. With the cooperation of our dynamic Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige and the Board, the management has surpassed what we met when we came on board in May 2017.
“The vision of the minister is to see that most states of the federation come on board before the end of this year.”
He further explained that NSITF, in conjunction with critical stakeholders that include Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and Trade Union Congress TUC), pays the high premium on prevention of workplace disabilities and the enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health Standards in the workplace.
Experts say the future of the economy is in entrepreneurship as unemployment rate keeps rising, TOBA AGBOOLA writes.
The increase in youth population in the country has become a challenge instead of an indice of growth.
This is because many of the out-of-school youths are jobless and as their frustration with the society grows, so also their propensity to commit crime.
However, small businesses, often refered to as the backbone of the economy and the answer to joblessness, have not enjoyed policies that encourage growth.
Experts have said entrepreneurship is a veritable source of employment and wealth creation for those who desire to create wealth for themselves.
They said a business empire could be created by starting small and working hard to maintain the business and grow it through various stages. Many big companies started small years ago and their founders were committed in their pursuit and persevered until the businesses grew to world class brands.
They said despite the challenges, Nigeria is a beautiful place to do business such that any entrepreneurial-minded person can succeed in business if they are willing to start something no matter how difficult it may seem at first.
According to them, the most difficult aspect is starting the business. But as soon as you start, however turbulent it may be, you will begin to learn the ropes as you continue to nurture your business; sooner or later, the business will begin to make headway as long as you persevere.
A Lagos-based human rights activist, Mr. Tayo Demola, said if every graduate could create at least one job opportunity for himself and make a living from it, then unemployment would be drastically reduced. It would also reduce dependence on the government to create jobs, as well as reduce insecurity, armed banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes, he added.
For Nigerians to create jobs for themselves as well as for others, he said, there has to be that entrepreneurial spirit that would propel them to think about what he or she could do for the nation and not what the nation could do for them.
According to him, it is possible for Nigeria to get to that level where every citizen will have that entrepreneurially spirit to create jobs and make wealth for themselves for the betterment of the nation.
But to do this, he suggested an enabling policy from the government to drive that consciousness into the people from cradle, meaning that, it is not enough to have entrepreneurship introduced as a course in the tertiary institutions in Nigeria, it must also a matter of necessity be introduced to pupils right from the primary schools so that students can learn how to be enterprising right from childhood.
“By so doing, we would inevitably instill entrepreneurship skills into our future generation by catching them young and directing their mentality towards a worthy cause that would eventually create wealth for the nation and propel Nigeria into economic and political greatness in the comity of nations,” he pointed out.
The Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, said increased support for SMEs and business start-ups through capacity building and funding would help reduce unemployment.
He identified lack of finance, inadequate infrastructural facilities, shortage of skilled manpower, poor entrepreneurial skills and lack of enabling operating environment, among others, as some of the challenges confronting SMEs.
SMEs, he stressed, has huge potential for employment generation and wealth creation, if adequately encouraged, adding that by creating more jobs, the SMEs are reducing unemployment and its associated high crime rate.
The Director-General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria(SMEDAN), Dr Umaru Radda, said only one out of 100 graduates were employable, attributing the situation to poor skills and lack of entrepreneurial competence.
Radda said the population of youths between 15 and 24 was on the increase, adding that the majority of them lived in the poor and emerging economies.
He said: “One of the major causes of unemployment is skill shortage occasioned by dearth of skilled personnel and entrepreneurial competence, inadequate capacity of vocational skill centres and the non-orientation of the educational system to the production of vocational skills that are aligned to industry requirements.”
The officer-in-charge (OIC), United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Regional Office, Nigeria, Dr. Chuma Ezedinma, stressed that entrepreneurship and industrialisation are two important ingredients for stimulating growth, job creation and poverty reduction in developed and developing economies, including Nigeria.
Ezedinma, who spoke at a workshop in Abuja, also said increased support for SMEs could help tame unemployment.
Successful SMEs, he stressed, are the primary engines for job creation, income growth, and poverty reduction, as they broaden the base of participation in society, create jobs, decentralise economic power, and give people a stake in the future.
Government, he said, could encourage entrepreneurship and small businesses through its tax policy, which could be; corporate tax rate reductions, tax credits for investment and tax holidays.
Other solutions he suggested, are simpler regulatory processes and reducing the cost of compliance with government regulations, access to capital and the legal protection of property rights.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, noted that there was the urgent need for collaboration to tackle youth unemployment. “Insecurity challenges are symptoms of the dire state of unemployment and frustration of the youth. The urgency to support job creation must be accompanied with the right synergies, as these problems cannot be solved in silos. The Ministry is committed to working with partners across the private, social and public sectors to create jobs for young Nigerians,” Ngige added.
According to an entrepreneur and business consultant, Mrs. Margarita Hakobyan, as small businesses become big, they face more challenges – from other small, startup companies that are able to innovate more quickly and disrupt more intensely.
This, she said, could be seen with Apple; while Apple remains a lifestyle brand that many people happily pay a premium for, they have not been considered the top of the tech field for some time.
In manufacturing, she said, much had been made about how robotics has disrupted and continues to disrupt traditional manufacturing jobs.
As these line jobs have been reduced, however, she said other fields have opened up to alerts, programme systems, and repairs and maintain systems. She called on people to utilise their potential to create employment.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for increased vigilance, resilience, grit, discipline, patriotic commitment and innovative solutions by the Federal Government, security agencies and citizens to bring the reign of madness and impunity in Northeast to a conclusive end.
The congress also commiserated with the government and the entire people of Borno State on the recent gruesome aby the Boko Haram terrorists at Auno Town which is 24 kilometers from Maiduguri metropolis along the Maiduguri – Damaturu Highway.
NLC in a letter addressed to the state governor, Babagana Umaru Zulum, signed by the President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said this is the umpteenth time that insurgents would be attacking innocent commuters and villagers along this very important road artery in North Eastern Nigeria.
Wabba said: “This attack is clearly aimed at undermining the good efforts that your administration and our security forces are making to bring the current wave of terrorism and insurgency in the Northeast to an end and to restore the peace.
“At this rate, we have a duty to urge the government and our security services not to be discouraged. It is also important for government and our security forces to seriously consider adopting an entirely new approach to the fight against terrorism and insurgency especially in a manner that would break the spinal cord of those bent on unleashing mayhem on our people, their livelihoods and our collective sanity.
It has now become totally unacceptable to allow blood sucking marauders to operate for an uninterrupted period of up to four hours without repulsion by our security forces. We must now draw the line.”
Ayuba said the adoption of a new security strategy to the anti-terrorism fight has become acutely necessary given the grave danger that a much more prolonged insurgency portends for the socio-economic survival of our people.
He said there are already fears that the recent upscale in violence along the Maiduguri-Damaturu corridor could be geared at cutting off this critical transportation artery and thus isolating Maiduguri from the rest of the country.
“The humanitarian impact in terms of the supply of food and other basic life supporting amenities can only be imagined.
“Your Excellency, while we salute your efforts in supporting our security forces to end this carnage, and bring peace cum accelerated development to the good people of Borno State, we call for increased vigilance, resilience, grit, discipline, patriotic commitment and innovative solutions by the Federal government, security agencies and citizens to bring this reign of madness and impunity in Northe8ast Nigeria to a conclusive end,” he said.
According to reports, this attack which took place on February 9 at about 9.30pm left more than 30 people dead and 18 vehicles burnt.
Experts have urged business organisations and government agencies to actively encourage safe environment and healthy employees to boost productivity and the gross domestic product (GDP). TOBA AGBOOLA reports
The belief that adherence to environmental standards set by regulatory bodies is key to success is driving local and multinational companies to be more concerned about safety and environmental sustainability.
The work environment, according to several research reports, has implications for employee health and productivity. Thus, the significance of implementing workplace health and safety measures cannot be over-emphasised.
For example, a safe and clean work space contributes to decline in sick leave requests by workers. Also, it can be a critical factor in determining where a consumer shops.
Expert said putting in place a dynamic occupational safety tools boosts productivity of the workforce, as employee safety should be paramount regardless of position or qualification.
Executive Director, National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP), Eric Gislason, said: “You have to show value that the safety of your employees is of utmost importance not only for ethical reasons but for your return on investments.
“You do better as a company when you keep your employees safe, there is proven documentation that shows that a safe workplace will give better productivity, better employee, increased morale, better quality and that is what we need to implement worldwide.”
Speaking on safety in the workplaces, Gislason said while the workplaces have quite an impressive level of occupational safety methods, more can be done to become more advanced, especially in policy reformation, adding that safety reforms are not just a Nigerian problem, but also prevalent in the United States.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the National Assembly to initiate a new Occupational Safety Health Bill to ensure the safety and health of the workforce.
According to NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the law has become imperative to protect workers in case of injury or sickness that might arise in the course of their employment.
He said previous attempts to pass a similar bill into law had failed.
He stressed that all over the world, construction companies had the highest accident rates in the workplaces and those workers suffer greatly in the sector.
He said: “Nigeria is even worst and I know that a lot of complaints come to the NLC through the National Union of Engineering, Construction and Woodworkers’ Union and we have always taken up their complaints.
“We also receive serious complaints from the chemical union and most of the time we settle out of court by ensuring that the company involved pays compensation to the workers concerned or to their families in case of death.
“Sometimes when we go to court, it takes a number of years and the worker may even die before the compensation gets to him.
“That is why we prefer to settle out of court and get compensation for the worker.
“So, I think that the first thing to be done in Nigeria is to have a standard law to regulate occupational safety health in the country.”
He said Nigeria was still operating on the revised edition of the 1960 law on the issue, adding that it was important for the country to follow the best practices in line with the provisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) constitution as it affects occupational safety and health.
Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Register Limited, Kwode Festus, said: “We have an objective to ensure that every Nigerian understands his right in terms of safety in the workplace.
What we are looking at is occupational health and safety, which is very important, the country does not have the necessary regulations to support safety in the workplace.”
Proffering solutions to improving occupational safety in the country at the end of a five-day safety-training programme in Lagos, he stressed the need to establish a national framework and regulatory policy for workplaces, which should be strictly adhered to.
He said: “We need to have the peer review with other countries on safety and also attend conferences because without the knowledge, we cannot do anything.”
Speaking on the training, Kwode, who has been certified by the NASP abroad, said he decided to replicate the knowledge and certificate locally for other professionals and companies to benefit from in partnership with the international organisation.
He said presently Swiss Registers is the only West African partner of the NASP.
He said besides becoming certified safety managers, the participants after the training can also facilitate training for other people at a lower cost, which he said, presently costs $2,900.
Kwode said the aim is to incorporate the training into academic institutions, and reduce the fee to a more affordable amount for individuals.
This, he said, can be achieved by working with necessary regulatory bodies and organisations.
He added that the training is not just for factory workers, but also for those in corporate environment. He added that the training, which is a total of five days, had 20 participants from various companies and industries working with 32 modules after which they will be examined on.
andrew-sharman-iosh-president
President, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), Andrew Sharman, said to sustain growth, productivity and profitability, investors and business owners worldwide needed to look after people at work and their work environment.
Speaking at the maiden edition of the West African Health Conference themed ‘Shaping the Future of Occupational Safety and Health in West Africa’, hosted by the IOSH, Sharman said:“Healthy environment will drive growth and build investors’ confidence, and will also boost productivity. IOSH supports the development of strong workplace safety culture promoted by businesses and government agencies.”
Sharman said as part of its advocacy for improved workplace safety and employee health, the IOSH, a chartered body for health and safety professionals, was launching a campaign that had: ‘No Time to Lose’ as theme, in Nigeria. It is targeted at tackling cancer diseases caused by work-related activities.
A statement on the campaign said exposure at work to carcinogenic substances was one of the biggest causes of avoidable cancer in adults.
“Over 46,000 people die each year in Africa as a result of their occupational exposure to carcinogens such as asbestos and diesel engine exhaust emissions,” the statement read.
Director, Occupational Health, Ministry of Health, Lagos State Layemi-Adeyemo Kuburat, in her address, commended the IOSH for promotion and maintenance of a healthy working population through the advocacy of a safe workplace environment and safety standards.
She said a lot of people shied away from reporting work-related accidents or illnesses, leading to the under-reporting of such occurrences and causing dilemma in keeping records and proffering solutions.
She said statistics revealed that 160 million people had work-related disease leading to reduced productivity in organisations, many of which could be prevented.
“Furthermore, the average cost of populated injuries and Nigerians with ill-health is 4.3 per cent, which is definitely underreported,” she said.
She called for appropriate reporting and investigation of workplace incidents while urging companies and agencies to have a comprehensive work plan and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
Chief Executive Officer, IOSH, Bev Messinger, said in her address that good health would improve productivity and increase organisational success.
Messinger said achieving a safe workplace in all organisations was possible, adding that accidents, hazards, and ill health were preventable in organisations.
“Good health of employees and a safe environment is an investment for any organisation and not a cost as its returns are always visible in its revenue,” she said.
She further said the activities of the IOSH was in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and called for improved collaboration among personnel, agencies, organisations and the government to ensure the availability of a safe workplace where healthy employees would effectively and efficiently carry out their duties.
Head of strategic engagement, IOSH, Alan Stevens said it was necessary for all stakeholders to collaborate and foster a safe environment where healthy employees would be fully productive in their various activities
“For a productive business that will lead to a growing economy, everyone must be healthy and the environment as well must be safe,” Stevens said.
Workers in the food sector have raised the alarm over insecurity in the ports. They say the ports are now dominated by foreign operators, a situation that may make the country susceptible to external attacks.
The workers under the umbrella of the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE) said there is danger in the nation’s ports, especially the Apapa port in Lagos.
Its President, Lateef Oyelekan, said the land, air and sea borders are important to the security of a country, commending the Federal Government for the closure of the land border.
He said the country equally has no problem with the airports, but noted that the union has discovered that foreigners now dominated the nation’s sea ports, operating as clearing and forwarding agents.
“We believe that this will further expose our country to more security challenges as foreigners could easily bring into the country arms and ammunition as well as expired products,” he said.
He said there was a case where expired tomato paste was brought into the country, adding that the timely information and apprehension by National Agency for Food Drugs Control (NAFDAC) saved the country.
Oyelekan, who is also the vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said Nigeria today can be self-sufficient in the production of food, drinks and beverages, hence there is no need to import any of such products.
He said government’s policy on backward integration has really paid off as most of the local manufacturers in the food sector now source most of their raw materials locally.
He said: “In Kaduna, we now have a tomato paste producing company which is a plus to Nigeria.
“WAMCO, one of our major companies producing milk has also put in efforts to produce its raw materials in Nigeria. So it’s important that the Federal Government should do all within her power to protect our industries from substandard products now coming in from our sea ports.”
