The Federal Government, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) are developing a national profile for occupational safety and health systems in the country.
Speaking at the draft review and validation workshop on Nigeria country profile on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Abuja, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, explained that the profile would promote efficient management of workplace safety and health in Nigeria and boost the economic growth of the country.
The junior minister noted that OSH systems have been widely proven to be an effective strategy for achieving sustainable safety and health management.
“This led to the draft review of the nation’s country profile on Occupational Safety and Health to secure the much-desired preventative occupational safety and health culture through the participatory implementation of Occupational Safety and Health programmes by various stakeholders. In reviewing the National Occupational Safety and Health Profile, it is essential that as stakeholders, we are not only to participate in the review processes but also be held accountable for our unique roles and responsibilities,” she added.
Onyejeocha stressed that the primary aim of the workshop was to create a comprehensive national profile that provides the framework for the strengthening of the National Occupational Safety and Health System by identifying the institutional tools and activities that will facilitate effective assessment and review of the progress and impact of OSH efforts in Nigeria.
Another aim of the workshop was to identify new tools for effective occupational safety and health management through the review and validation of the 2016 Nigeria Country Profile on OSH.
On its part, the NLC, which was represented by an Assistant General Secretary, Chris Onyeka, submitted the importance of a national OSH profile as a critical tool in stakeholders’ collective efforts at making the world of work safer.
NLC noted that the decent work agenda which is at the heart of the global understanding of the criticality of the protection of the rights and privileges of workers from abuse and violation in the workplace and the larger society speaks to the need to ensure safer workplaces.
The representative of the NLC added: “The National OSH Profile is supposed to speak to our seriousness as a nation to protecting our workplaces so that we do not go to work to die or wounded but to create wealth and live better. While it is important to have a national OSH profile, more important is to ensure that we are committed to its use.
“The same determination and zeal with which we have pursued this process should also be brought to bear in ensuring that the document when it comes out, gets to all Nigerians who have a stake in the world of work. It will be an empty exercise if those who are supposed to use it are not using it.”
