The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has appealed to the Ministry of Justice to urgently transmit the Labour Bills approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to the National Assembly.
Its Director-General, Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, in a statement yesterday, also urged the National Assembly to facilitate the passage of the bills into law as existing Acts are out of sync with current realities.
Oyerinde was quoted as saying: “We commend the Federal Government for giving swift attention to the draft labour bills.
“We, indeed, congratulate the social partners, ILO and other stakeholders who worked tirelessly to produce the draft labour bills, even though we had hoped these bills would have long become laws by now.
“Nonetheless, it is exciting to know that the FEC has approved the draft Bills, which we expect will now be transmitted to the National Assembly for legislative action.”
He argued that the current labour laws are no longer realistic or practical, and lacked the force to address emerging contemporary labour and industrial relations issues.
Oyerinde also noted that labour laws in other climes continued to perpetually reflect international best practices while responding to the ever-changing world of work.
“The first attempt to review our labour laws was in 2001; this simply means that for about 23 years, nothing worthwhile was achieved, while the work-place continues to evolve.
“While new ILO Conventions were created and ratified by nations of the world, our labour laws remained obsolete.
“This led to many unnecessary industrial conflicts due to poor application of domestic and international labour standards.
“Nigeria had had to receive summons from the ILO committee of experts on the application of conventions and recommendations for various reported unfair labour practices.
“These are some of the inherent consequences of our obsolete labour laws,” Oyerinde said.
The first attempt to review our labour laws was in 2001; this simply means that for about 23 years, nothing worthwhile was achieved, while the work-place continues to evolve.
