The Nigerian Senate has passed for second reading, a bill that will provide for the documentation and protection of domestic workers and employers of domestic workers across the country.
The bill, if finally passed by the National Assembly and assented to by the President, will nip in the bud, cases of assault and abuse of domestic workers in Nigeria.
The bill, which passed a second reading on Wednesday at the plenary and sponsored by Senator Babangida Hussaini Uba, does not only seek to protect domestic workers but is aimed at protecting employers of domestic workers.
He said the purpose of the bill is to address the issue of employment regulations and management of domestic workers and also to deal with matters of rights of employers from the domestic workers.
Senator Babangida said that a lot of workers are unregistered and not supported by national labour laws.
Presenting the lead debate, Senator Babangida explained that at the end of the day, there will be a body which is expected to provide documentation and protection for domestic workers as well as employers of domestic workers in the country.
He noted that over the years, the country has experienced an increase in incidents of assault and abuse of domestic workers by their employers or host, saying they border on slave labour, physical and sexual abuse.
He also said that there was also an increase in the spate of complicity of crimes committed by domestic workers mostly in connivance with other criminal elements against their employers or host.
“The purpose of the bill is to bring the two sides of the coin together so that we can have a harmonized, regulated, documented and properly articulated approach to domestic employee-employer relationship,” he said.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio commended the sponsors and those that spoke on the importance of the bill and referred the bill to the Committee on Labour and Productivity, who will report back to the House in four weeks.
Emmanuel Ukoh
