The Nigeria Labour Congress, the International Labour Organisation, and the African Region of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) are advocating for incentives to encourage manufacturers to adopt responsible business practices.
Speaking yesterday in Abuja at the national dialogue on responsible business conduct and decent work agenda, the General Secretary of ITUC-Africa, Joel Odigie, argued that the government must adopt a ‘carrot and stick’ approach in ensuring business entities to respect the human rights of workers as well as emplane friendly work environment.
He said: “There are incentives that the government needs to provide to companies willing to embark on responsible business conduct. Some of these companies lack the resources, knowledge and tools that can support them.”
Odigie urged the organised private sector as represented by the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) to act within the ambience of the law, saying when businesses comply with the law, 95 per cent of what is required to be a responsible business entity would have been met.
President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, who was represented by the General Secretary of the labour centre, Nuhu Toro, stressed that the TUC believes that sustainable business practices are not only compatible with Decent Work pillars but are also essential for economic resilience, industrial harmony, and inclusive national development.
The four pillars of the Decent Work Agenda include employment creation, rights at work, social protection, and social dialogue. The chief expressed worry about emerging troubling trends in the world of work such as precarious employment, widespread informality, unsafe workplaces, wage theft, and persistent violations of workers’ rights.
He explained that these worrying trends are not the hallmarks of a sustainable or productive business environment, adding: “Rather, they are symptoms of systemic dysfunctions that must be addressed through meaningful collaboration and commitment to ethical, human-centred approaches to business.”
Osifo urged stakeholders in the business ecosystem to recognise that decent work is not a cost, but an investment. He added: “An investment in human dignity, in productivity, in enterprise sustainability, and national stability. Fair wages, safe working conditions, social protection, and respect for collective bargaining are the cornerstones of businesses that last and societies that thrive.”
On his part, President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, who was represented by Head of Information, Benson Upah, observed that for far too long, the story of labour in Nigeria has been one of struggle against exploitation, against disregard for basic rights, and against a system that too often prioritizes profit over people.
He alleged that multinational corporations, with their vast resources and global reach, have a special duty to lead by example, but have failed to live up to such expectations.
He declared that organised labour would not tolerate foreign expatriates perpetrating practices that would not be tolerated in their home countries through the payment of starvation wages, factories where safety is an afterthought, and supply chains tainted by child labour and environmental destruction.
Ajaero stated: “Enough of the double standards. Enough to the idea that Nigeria and its workers deserve anything less than the same dignity and respect afforded to workers anywhere else in the world. We must uphold every corporation operating in Nigeria, especially the multinational corporations to the same standard that governs their operations in their countries of origin.”
The NLC helmsman urged multinational corporations to step up and stop sloganeering and talk shops and come up with concrete action.
He submitted that paying living wages guarantees safe workplaces, respecting the right to organise, clean up the supply chains and be ready to make amend when harms are done to workers.
NLC also maintained that the government is at the centre of enforcing compliance with the laws, saying, “It is important that we state that without a willingness to enforce compliance to our laws that protect workers’ rights. We, therefore, call on the Nigerian government to stand firm to strengthen enforcement, to hold corporations accountable, and to ensure that our laws match the realities of today’s economy.”
Ajaero also charged the government to ratify Convention 190, empower labour inspectors and listen to workers when they speak out about abuse. Director of the ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison for ECOWAS, Dr Vanessa Phala, insisted that promoting sustainable and responsible investment and business practices plays a fundamental role in strategic initiatives such as Agenda 2063 to ensure that growth benefits all people and contributes to reducing inequalities.
