THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has revealed that it is working on plans to carry out a review of labour laws in Nigeria, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Making the plan public on Tuesday in Calabar, Cross River State capital, at a media roundtable and strategy design on civil space for the Power of Voices Partnership Project, Dr Onoho’Omhen Ebhohinhen, NLC’s Head of Research, said the review is to ensure that the country’s labour laws are in conformity with the conventions and other legal instruments of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
According to Dr Ebhohinhen, the current labour laws had become obsolete and needed to be reviewed to align them with modern realities and to update them to ILO level.
“Some of these laws were made during the colonial era and some during past military regimes. You can agree with me that most of the Nigerian labour laws have become archaic. There have been so many developments in the country that have not been captured,” he said, adding that Nigerian workers have invariably become victims of those laws.
“The present labour laws impede workers’ growth and productivity. They are too restrictive and do not encourage productivity of the Nigerian worker. We also need to domesticate some of the laws in conformity with the ILO requirements,” he said.
Dr Ebhohinhen stated that the process of the review has already gone through three stages. “We have concluded three stages of the process. We have held individual presentations at the NLC level; we had workshops with relevant stakeholders and we have met with the members of the National Assembly.
“After collation of all the submissions, we will put them together as draft legislation and present them to the National Assembly for onward passage as a bill,” he said.
