ILO Strengthens Capacity on Labour Market and Migration Statistics for Effective Policy Development and Implementation in Nigeria

The International Labour Organization (ILO) organizes a national capacity building workshop on labour statistics highlighting the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) on Labour Migration Statistics with the goal of improving labour migration statistics for formulation/implementation policies, projects and programmes to promote decent work for all.

Press release | 18 February 2020

LAGOS (ILO News): The International Labour Organization (ILO) organizes training workshop to improve capacity to curate and utilize timely and reliable labour statistics as an essential requirement for evidence-based policy-making for labour migration in Nigeria.  The objective of the workshop is to strengthen labour migration data for effective labour migration governance in Nigeria.  The three-day workshop is running from February 18-20, 2020.

The National Capacity building Workshop organized within the framework of ILO’s Initiative for Labour Migration Employment and Reintegration (LMER) which is being implemented in Nigeria and Ghana, focuses on highlighting the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) on Labour Migration Statistics, as part of ILO’s efforts towards responding to country needs in capacity building to enhance the engagement of relevant state actors in the area of labour migration statistics in Nigeria.

During the welcome remarks on the first day of the workshop, ILO Country Office Director Mr Dennis Zulu in his address delivered by a representative noted that as an evolving phenomenon, labour migration remains a feature of modern-day labour markets, requiring the active engagement of all stakeholders to facilitate the development and implementation of effective labour migration governance frameworks across all levels of governance. Furthermore, he stated that globally, millions of migrants who leave their country of origin usually leave as labour migrants in search of better work and employment opportunities. As such, a better understanding of this phenomenon through evidence-based approaches will be essential to addressing the challenges associated with the irregular migratory flow of labour migrants, improving labour statistics and support in-country efforts for improvements in the labour markets.

Also speaking during the opening of the workshop, the representative of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Mr Kola Ogundiya noted the importance of the workshop for the work of the NBS. He stated that while the agency created quarterly labour related indices, there is more that can be done for the inclusion of data on labour migration. He welcomed the opportunity to integrate the tenets of the workshop in their data collection processes.  The National Population Commission Representative Ms Veronica Ogbonnaya during her remarks also echoed the sentiments of the NBS regarding the importance of the workshop for effective labour migration data and statistics, she described the workshop as a positive step and noted the importance of reliable data for policy decisions and coherence.

Over the course of the workshop, participants will be presented with an overview of labour statistics, expand their knowledge base and understanding of labour statistics uses in the wake of the adoption of new statistical standards on work, employment and labour underutilization by the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in October 2013. Furthermore, the workshop  provides an additional platform to strengthen long-term engagement in the area of labour migration statistics in Nigeria.

The LMER project is a collaboration between the ILO and the German Development Cooperation GIZ.