Senate Considers Bill to Regulate Private Sector Employment of Domestic Workers, Apprentices in Nigeria
Ughelli....The Senate is considering a bill to regulate and formalize the employment of domestic workers, apprentices, interns and other informal sector employees in Nigeria.
The legislation also seeks to empower National Employment Directorate (NDE) to issue licenses and monitor the activities of privately owned agencies in the country.
The bill, sponsored by Sani Musa (APC, Niger), went to second reading on Wednesday.
The bill was read a second time after lawmakers deliberated over the details of the legislation.
In his main debate, the legislator said that operation in the informal sector was generally small-scale with labor-intensive production and generally driven by private ownership.
He said that the involvement of the Nigerian economy by the informal sector showed evidence of the violation of employee rights and the non-implementation of labor regulations.
The informal sector in Nigeria, he said, has practices that do not conform to those of the International Labor Organization (ILO) ratified in its convention.
“There are still many shortfalls in the implementation of these agreements, one of those areas of concern is related to the decent work deficit.”
Decent work is work with fair and equal treatment, decent pay and fair conditions of employment, security and social protection, training opportunities and collective bargaining.
He said that the main role of the bill was to regulate the sector to promote strategic objectives, the promotion of rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue.
He also complained that many jobs in the informal labor market still experience a decent work deficit and that informal sector employees were often seen as having no rights and therefore treated unfairly by their employers.
While noting that the legislation will correct all wrongs against such workers, he said it will empower NDE to receive a request from an agency that wishes to function as an employment agency and issue a license that meets the requirements and is duly certified to perform. by the rules.
“The certification includes that there is no criminal case against said agency, that it maintains adequate account books, among other rules.”
Another senator from Niger, Sabi Abdullahi, who supported the bill, suggested making provisions in the bill to protect employers from mistreatment.
After the bill was read a second time and passed, it was referred to the labor and productivity committee for further legislative work.
