The leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Thursday urged Federal Government to ensure immediate reconstitution of the National Labour Advisory Council.
Ayuba Wabba, NLC President gave the charge in Abuja, during an interactive session with delegation from International Labour Organisation Committee on Experts.
Wabba said that the National Labour Advisory Council was necessary to ensure that Nigeria drive the process of tripartite consultation on labour matters.
According to him, the National Advisory Council has not met for the past three years and Nigeria was in arrears of reporting on major conventions at the annual International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva Switzerland.
“We demand that the National Advisory Council should be constituted immediately so that it can fill in the gap of advising in this important respect.
“At the last ILC, we have said yes, it is true that we are in arrears of reporting on major conventions, particularly conventions that has to do with freedom of association and the right to organised.
“We have also reported some new areas of violation, basically on the issue of review of the labour laws where we have actually faulted the process because the draft laws that we have are not only obsolete but they have not actually accommodated the issues that have been raised by the committee of experts,” he said.
The NLC chieftain who observed that the current labour laws are five in number, however alleged that the laws have been doctored at the eve of the ILC conference.
He explained that on the eve of the ILC Conference, there was a letter from Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment inviting the organised labour for a revalidation of the five labour laws.
“Looking at the bills, we found out that we have not participated in the process of coming up with the draft as required by law.
“Because the process ought to be tripartite which is why the National Labour Advisory Council is important and it is a platform form that should be used to drive the process of the tripartite consultation,” Wabba observed.
The NLC President said the National Labour Advisory Council was also an important forum to look at reports and adapt it before it was sent to ILO office in Geneva.
He also that the visit by the committee of experts was necessary as Nigeria has outstanding issues on conventions that includes freedom of association and the right to organised.
“I want to thank ILO for working with us since all these years in building its capacity and the leadership, throughout those years,” he said.
Responding, Sofia Oliveria, Specialist on ILO standards and Labour Law in Dakar, explained that the visit was to build the capacity of the government and other stakeholders in the country.
Oliveria added that the visit will provide opportunity for the delegate to interact with the social partners on key issues of the development of the labour reports from various perspectives such as the application of standards and how the ILO works.
In his remarks, David Dorkenoo, Specialist in Workers Activities ILO office to Nigeria, commended the Federal Government on its request to the ILO on technical support on capacity building.
Dorkenoo said the capacity training would enable the government to be able to fulfill his obligation to the ILO in terms of reporting on the international labour standards.
