Senator Iroegbu
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has expressed deep concern over the factionalisation of labour unionism in Nigeria, noting that acrimonious divisions were limiting the capacity of the unions to fully articulate and represent the interest of Nigerian workers.
Ngige who made the remark while receiving the visiting President of World Federation of Trade Unions(WFTU), Makwayiba Mzwandile Michael, yesterday urged the world labour body to use the opportunity of its Pan-African Congress scheduled for Nigeria in July 2017 to seek unity among Nigerian labour unions.
“I believe that the summit offers a good opportunity for the unification of workers’ unions in Nigeria. We have factions and we shall appreciate if you use your office to bring unity among the factions so that workers’ unions and their parent federations will become one again in Nigeria. I raised the same issue yesterday when the Secretary General of the International Trade Union Congress, Sharon Baron, visited.”
“So, I use this opportunity to harp on the unity of workers in Nigeria, unity of workers on the continent and the unity of workers all over the world. Factionalisation creates a very big setback in workers’ strength because united we stand, divided we fall,” he said.
The minister who noted the chequered history of the WFTU praised the organisation for surviving the factionalisation that beset her many years ago and pledged the commitment of Nigeria to any organisation that protects the rights of workers, saying “we have adequate constitutional safeguards for the rights of workers in Nigeria. We have also domesticated all relevant sections of the ILO convention on workers’ rights.”
He said Nigeria had moved steps further in plugging constitutional lacuna that militates against the welfare, safety and security of workers, citing the Employers Compensation Act (ECA), which compulsorily insures workers against accident, disaster, diseases and death that could occur in the course of work as an instance.
Ngige further said social intervention which forms part of the discussion in the scheduled July Pan African summit was already being faithfully implemented by the federal government under five cardinal programmes.
According to him, the 500,000 Graduate Teachers Scheme out of which 200,000 have already been recruited and deployed; the Conditional Cash Transfer, already being implemented in nine states of the federation with beneficiaries assisted with N5,000 monthly; the School Feeding Programme which has also taken off, while the Skill Acquisition Programme and the Graduate Scholarship Scheme will soon take off.
“You can see that the current administration in Nigeria is fully aligned with global trends in the protection of workers welfare even in the face of economic recession. These programmes are meant for the benefit of all Nigerians of which workers and their family members are part of,” he said.
The minister pledged the support of Nigeria for the July congress, adding that he would encourage the participation of Nigeria labour unions, and support by the government and employers associations
Earlier, Makwayiba emphasised the importance of getting African governments as well as workers speak with one voice on global labour issues.
He gave the history of the union while drawing from its varied benefits to workers across the decades.
The WFTU leader said he was in Nigeria to seek the support of the country towards a successful pan-African July summit, saying it would afford Africans a veritable forum to cross-fertilize ideas on issues, conventions and resolutions of lnternational labour bodies like the ILO with African peculiar circumstances in focus.
