The House of Representatives has urged the Ministry of Labour
and Productivity to reverse policy that encourages age discrimination by
employers of labour both in the public and private sectors; Members
agreed that the House Committee on Legislative Compliance should ensure
strict compliance to the resolution of the Chamber. The matter which was
introduced as motion of urgent public importance by Hon. Abdulrazak
Namdas during plenary on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. He cautioned that it
does not serve any social justice in a developing country like Nigeria
to deny a large proportion of its workforce jobs simply on the ground
that they did not meet the age requirements for employment.
He
stated that the conditions for age discrimination have not been met
when the Government has failed to provide basic services and amenities
for the youths to stand a chance in such circumstances. Also, government
organizations should avoid being in the frontline of the chief
campaigners for such inhuman policy. He averred that some factors such
as protracted strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU) has made it extremely difficult for graduates to leave school in
record time, therefore it would amount to a great injustice if the
youths are not offered same opportunity to gain meaningful employment as
their counterparts who had acquired education abroad.
The
House also kicked against extortion of money from prospective job
applicants, describing such actions as illegal and inhuman. Making
reference to the recruitment exercise conducted by the Nigerian Peace
Corps, where applicants were asked to pay a sum of N1, 500 for the
recruitment forms, the Minority Whip, Hon. Yakubu Umar Barde charged the
Committee on Interior to move quickly to protect vulnerable applicants
and put a stop to the illegality. He informed that the Peace Corps in
question has not yet been established by an Act of parliament, which
begs the question, “why are they even recruiting and who authorized the
recruitment exercise”?
While demanding
immediate refund of the money collected from people by the illegal and
fraudulent organizations, lawmakers including the Deputy Speaker of the
House condemned the act and copiously made it clear that it is wrong for
any Federal Government Agency to receive money from applicants during
recruitment exercises.
Meanwhile, 49 Bills
were passed for first reading during Wednesday's plenary as the Federal
Capital Territory Appropriation Bill, 2016, was read the third time and
passed by the House. Other Bills that scaled second reading on the floor
of the chamber include "Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian
Immigration Border Patrol Agents as a specialized directorate in the
immigration service to patrol, maintain surveillance, conduct borderline
watch and prevent persons from entering or leaving Nigeria without
permission",
Standing in the name of Hon. Afe
Olowookere was a Bill that was passed and referred to the Ad hoc
Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution, which seeks to alter
section 162, in order to abrogate the State Joint Local Government
Account.
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