ILO Reiterates the Importance of Social Dialogue as a tool for Promotion of Decent Work for workers

Uyo, Akwa Ibom (ILO News): The 2018 Annual Rain School of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ended on 3rd August 2018 with overwhelming resolve of labour to get involved in 2023 politics. The resolve arose out of the consideration that since labour movement was not represented when decisions were being taken, issues affecting labour were always left unattended.

In his goodwill message to the NLC participants at the Rain School, the Director of the ILO Country Office Abuja, Mr. Dennis Zulu, commended NLC for its annual Rain School and reminded the participants of the importance of placing the socio-economic interest of their members and the citizens on the agenda of the political parties in the interim. According to Mr. Zulu, the forthcoming elections should be based on issues that affect most Nigerians and secure the commitment of the politicians to address those issues when they get into power. Such issues should include, among others, decent work for all, safe conditions of work, living wages, basic social security, gender equality and fair income distribution in line with International Labour Standards.

In her lead paper, Nkoyo Toyo stated that “Expanding the frontiers of participation may in fact be about finding groups that offer the potential for marrying liberal concerns about liberty, equality and rights with a vision of a diverse, engaged, politically literate citizenry who do more than passively accepted state-endowed entitlements.”. She also highlighted a major question that has faced trade unions in Nigeria from the early beginnings of the trade union movement, having been pondering over what their attitude towards partisan politics should be.

Ms Toyo regretted the clamour for restructuring and the growing dichotomization on grounds of religion which resulted from multiple dimensions and effects of exclusion. She reminded the NLC participants that just coming into politics was not the answer. She advised them to effectively mobilize its members, civil society and other Nigerians for effective participation in politics.

The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in his statement, stated that the Nigerian nation was undergoing numerous challenges ranging from economic crisis, security crisis and other socio-cultural challenges that required the unity of labour movements to collectively tackle. He stated that the numerous problems confronting the country and its people were signs of bad governance and leadership which had characterized Nigerian democracy since 1999.

He averred the labour movement was the only standing political institution that had the wherewithal to make national integration possible. According to him, this was possible because labour movement was not divided along sentimental lines that other political institutions were known for.

He also informed the participants that the on-going negotiations on minimum wage would end next month with implementation process that would culminate in a new national wage before the end of the year. He insisted that a new minimum wage would boost economic activities and empower every segment of the Nigerian society. He said that minimum wage was one of the most important ways of motivating workers to provide effective service adding that its implementation would engender growth not only among the public sector workers, but also among workers in the private and informal sectors of the economy.