By Helen Shok Jok, Abuja
For the next two days, stakeholders on labour migration in Nigeria will be brainstorming on how to resolve challenges facing fair recruitment of migrants.
ILO Conventions 143 and 181 emphasise the importance of protecting migrant workers’ rights and promoting decent work.
At the two-day dialogue holding in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the Director, ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, Dr Vanessa Phala, stressed that fair recruitment must be done in a way that protects the migrant workers.
Represented by the Employment and Migration Officer in the ILO office in Nigeria, Mr Austin Erameh, Dr Phala said that the ILO was happy to be part of the dialogue, hoping that the outcome of the interaction would help produce a well-articulated framework for fair recruitment and labour migration governance in Nigeria.
In his address, the Focal Person on Migration for the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Eustace James, believes that to promote fair, transparent, and rights-based recruitment practices, there is a need to align with ILO Conventions No. 143 and No. 181.
He said that “these conventions emphasize the importance of protecting migrant workers’ rights and promoting decent work.
“The draft framework for the international recruitment of Nigerian migrant workers is a significant step towards ensuring that our workers are protected and treated fairly abroad,” he said.
Comrade James also recommended what he said must be key aspects of the framework.
He listed transparency, fairness by ensuring the protection of migrants from exploitation, abuse, and discrimination; ensuring that migrant workers’ rights are respected, including freedom of association and collective bargaining.
“We must collectively ensure that recruitment agencies operate with integrity and that migrant workers have access to effective grievance mechanisms.
“Let us work together to create a framework that prioritizes Nigerian migrant workers’ welfare and dignity.
“By doing so, we can promote decent work, protect workers’ rights, and contribute to Nigeria’s development”, he stated.
In a message, the President, Employers Association for Private Employment Agencies of Nigeria, EAPEAN, Dr Nzeribe Okegbue, said that the overall objective of the dialogue is to “reinforce Nigeria’s labour migration governance architecture through capacity-development, policy coherence and multi-stakeholder collaboration to promote fair, transparent and rights-based recruitment in accordance with ILO Conventions No. 143 and No. 181.”
He stated that the collective task is to ensure that the path to opportunity is safe, transparent, and just, that no Nigerian’s work ambition becomes their vulnerability.
He called for the strengthening of coordination among key institutions, promoting digital transparency in licensing and monitoring of recruiters, as well as empowering Private Employment Agencies, among others, to enhance labour migration governance in Nigeria.
Executive Secretary EAPEAN, Jide Afolabi, setting the stage for the two-day dialogue, is in collaboration with the International Labour Organization and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, to make a meaningful contribution that will form a draft framework guiding labour recruitment in the country.
Afolabi called on the participants to contribute meaningfully, saying that “your contribution to this consultation will be invaluable as we collectively work to enhance fair recruitment practices and strengthen Nigeria’s labour migration governance.”
There were goodwill messages from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the organised labour, and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, among others.