As the crises generated by the N30,000 new national minimum wage continues to linger between government and organised labour, Chris Ngige, minister of labour and employment, has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment towards ensuring a safer working environment for Nigerian workers, saying his ministry will no longer accept excuses for workplace-related hazards.
“Let me reiterate that the uncontrolled exposure of workers to hazardous work is totally unacceptable and calls for concerted effort and collaboration among all the relevant stakeholders,” Ngige said.
The minister stated this at the Society of Environmental Health Physicians of Nigeria (SOEHPON) annual conference and AGM, themed “Providing Occupational Health Best Practices in Nigeria” held recently in Lagos.
Ngige, who was represented by Adedamola Dada, medical director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebute-Meta, Lagos, said the theme of the conference was opt and timely, considering that Nigeria was currently pursuing a national agenda of inclusive socioeconomic growth and development.
According to Ngige, the country needs collaboration from all stakeholders to ensure safety at workplace. “Combined efforts and resources of relevant stakeholders for prevention of workplace accidents, diseases, injuries or death, is the right way to go, for improvement of occupational safety and health standards that will enable businesses to thrive,” he said.
Okon Akiba, national president of SOEHPON, said, “A healthy and safe working environment forms the basis for a more productive workforce, which in turn generates sustainable development and successful businesses.”
According to Akiba, the conference allows the society to present paper on occupational issues as it affects the work force in Nigeria. “This year’s conference marks the 40th anniversary as a society; as such it is more of a landmark conference. The standard of occupational health in Nigeria is falling, it is not feasible and the awareness is very low,” he said.
Akiba opined that occupational health deals with the impact of work related issues on health. According to him, it is not an area physician willingly want to do, hence there is a need for some legislation and government policies on occupational health in Nigeria. “Remember all employers of labour set up their businesses for the bottom line (profit),” Akiba stated.
Jukka Takala, president, International Commission on Occupational Health, said Nigeria needed the political will for the enforcement of occupational health related issues, saying, “If you make things correctly, your productivity goes up; most productive countries of the world are the healthiest countries of the world.”
