The Federal Government at the weekend said it would not compromise its hatred for forced labour, child trafficking or the abuse of expatriate quota in its determination to create jobs
Speaking during a visit to his office by the Country Representative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Madam Sina Chuma Nkandawire, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, slammed multinational companies which habitually abused the country’s expatriate quota rules by importing low-level personnel from their home countries for jobs Nigerians have been trained for.
He also solicited the strategic technical partnership of the ILO to enable the country meet its obligations under the ILO’s Global Job Pact.
Restating the government’s determination to use ongoing policy measures to boost job creation, Wogu said that such efforts would, however, not undermine the integrity of the country’s labour laws or international conventions as domesticated by Nigeria.
“We will make sure that whatever jobs are created are not done through forced labour or child trafficking, but we will make sure that we create jobs through regular and legal means that respect the dignity of our people,” Wogu said.
Flaying the abuse of expatriate quota by many multinational companies operating in the country, the Minister said: “There are laws that govern migration, and one is the fixing of expatriate quota for companies which bring experts into the country. These laws allow experts who come in to take certain jobs and expatriates are not allowed to come in and take jobs like cleaners.”
“We will not allow jobs that will undermine the jobs of Nigerians to be taken away and we frown at the situation where some of these companies go to the extent of even bringing cleaners and even low-level jobs that Nigerians can handle,” the minister declared.
“Sometimes, when expatriates are engaged, they are supposed to work with Nigerians who should understudy them and, eventually, take over from them, so migration in and out is something that we are going to look at,” he declared.