Victor Ahiuma-Young and Ashiat Adeniyi
15 September 2008
Ministry of Labour and Productivity has said the informal sector of the nation's economy accounts for not less than 90 per cent of new job openings in Nigeria.
Deputy Director/Controller, Lagos office of Federal Ministry of Labour , Mrs Nofisat Abiola Arogundade, who represented the minister disclosed this in Lagos at the kick-off of the Ministry's campaign for decent work and explained why the ministry is focussing on the informal sector in the campaign for decent work.
She said: "The informal sector, according to a new study, accounts for 80 per cent of non-agricultural employment, 60 per cent of urban employment and over 90 per cent of new jobs in Nigeria. It is a reality that the informal economy is growing in this country especially in the urban centers, and the issue of Labour relations and workers safety in the sector can no longer be ignored.
"I hope and believe that the goals of the campaign will be achieved. It is pertinent to note that the essence of this campaign is to enlighten you and create awareness on decent work deficit in the informal sectors as well as to work progressively with you to relieve the deficits. Many of us will be wondering what is called decent work? Decent work is aspiration of every one of us.
"Let us put dignity in everything because there is dignity in labour, whatever we are doing, let us do it well, let us do it right, with fairness and justice. We have observed that in the informal sectors, some things are lacking which are the right of people, because, some masters do not give their workers the freedom of expression which is not supposed to be so because we all have our right as a citizen of this nation but we are saying even in informal sector, their should be some rights. As a labour ministry, we try to maintain harmony in industries.
"We are the one that make sure that the workers and their employers are not fighting, one is not taking on due advantage of the other, we do things with justice and fairness. We try to make sure as much as possible that some one has come to you to learn a trade to earn a living and we don't want them to earn injury, death, our job is to protect any body that is employed.
"The vision of the President Yar'Adua administration to make life meaningful and worthwhile for the citizens of this country is well spelt out in its 7-point Agenda and Vision 2020. Creating more and better jobs is one of the objectives of the 7- point Agenda. Government is aware of the informal sector contribution to economic development in the area of job- wealth creation. But our concern is to create quality job and not just any job. It is long established that the ambition of people is to live a dignified life and the essence of dignity is work.
"In realisation of this fact of life, our current Labour administration in Nigeria has made access to good quality jobs for all workers as a central policy, hence our commitment to the promotion and enforcement of Decent Work Agenda at all workplaces. Decent work is central to efforts to reduce poverty, and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. As part of our continuous efforts to achieve the development goal identified under the Nigeria Decent Work Country Programme, the Ministry of Labour wish to address the multitude of workers and enterprises like yours who are often not recognised and protected under existing legal and regulatory frameworks and who are characterised by a high degree of vulnerability and poverty, and to redress these decent work deficits."
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