ILO Commemorates International Labour Day with Nigerian Workers

ABUJA (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO), Abuja Country Office joined in celebrating the Nigerian workers during the Annual May Day rally at the Eagle`s square in Abuja. Present for the May Day celebrations were the Vice President of Nigeria, - Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate President-Mr Bukola Saraki, the Minster of Labour Dr Chris Ngige to mention a few government representatives.

The Director, ILO CO Abuja, Mr Dennis Zulu in his keynote address at the rally acknowledged the important role the trade union movement plays in the development of Nigeria and in fighting for social justice and inclusive development as the workers role in National development does not only include participating in the National development agenda setting process but also in its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Mr. Zulu noted that the ILO has taken note of the recent commitments made by the government and the social partners towards improving the condition of work and the welfare of the working people of Nigeria and further encouraged all the tripartite partners in Nigeria to work collectively, with a unified objective of addressing developmental challenges and in doing so continue to promote workers’ rights.

The 2018 May Day rally came with renewed promises from the Federal Government in tackling the demands of workers as a 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee for the negotiation of a new national minimum wage for Nigerian workers was set up in November 2017.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, commended the resilience of the Nigerian workers as he assured that talks on new minimum wage were still ongoing. He took the opportunity to reassure Nigerian workers of the government’s commitment to labour welfare, “this is an administration that places a lot of premium on the welfare of workers and all citizenry and has done so in very transparent manner” he said. The new wage is expected to take effect from August 2018.