Lagos — As the scourge of HIV/AIDS gets worse in Nigeria, employers of labour are already feeling the pinch as skilled workers are being lost as a result of the dreaded disease daily.

This was made known by the president of the National Union of Textile Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), Comrade Reginald Agula-nor, in a speech to mark this year's "International AIDS Day" in Lagos.

Agulanor further said that apart from being killed by the dreaded disease, workers who had been infected by the sickness are indirectly laid off from work without being told why they are sacked.

He lamented that the cause of this was ignorance of the disease by the affected workers. He noted that if the awareness of the disease was widely emphasised, some of the affected workers might not have been infected with the disease.

According to him ,"Many of our members have lost their lives through this sickness due to ignorance. Before now our members lost their jobs because of the disease. "The management will not tell you the reason for losing your job".

Agulanor stated that the fight against HIV/AIDs was universal and urged his workers to spread the effect of the disease to the outside world.

He implored them to help those who have disease so that they will feel a sense of belonging in the society.

Also speaking at the occasion, the Director of Alpha Nursing Agency, Mrs. Abassah Nneoma, who spoke on the theme "The Effects of HIV/AIDS on the Industry and Family", said every worker was vulnerable.

According to her, the industries annually lost skilled manpower who were talented and would have enhance productivity if they did not die. She further said that protracted illness could cause disruption in production process at factory level, especially when the company would have spent time and money in giving specialist training.

Abassah noted that HIV causes physical and mental stress on the infected person, thereby creating low productivity. She further noted that instead of laying off workers that are infected with HIV/AIDS the employers of labour should rather find a minor job and give to the affected person to do.

She stressed that a company could spend up to N500,000 to take care of an HIV patient since it is not curable but reiterated that employers of labour should give the affected workers less strenuous job instead of lay off them since taking care of the sickness is expensive.

She stated that death of a colleague will be felt and hard to overcome by the fellow colleagues.

Speaking on the effect on the family, she noted that HIV is like giving a family the death certificate of a loved one.

She explained that if the infected person is the breadwinner, it means the income of that family is threatened. She regretted that people still quarantine persons living with HIV and even in the family.

She urged the workers to always show support to those that are infected with the disease and advised them to follow the preventive measures.