The House of Representatives has vowed to review the Nigeria labour laws in order to check mate problems of casualization and outsourcing of jobs by employers of labour. The committees on Labour, Employment and Productivity were given the mandate today to investigate the incidences of casualization and outsourcing as both the public and private sectors are guilty of the offense.
While presenting the motion on the floor today, Wale Raji representing Epe Federal constituency, Lagos (APC) said section 7 (1) of the Nigeria Labour Act provides that no worker should be engaged on probation or temporary employment for more than 3 months.
According to Raji, " in recent years, the scourge of casualization has assumed a worrisome dimension both in the private and public sectors as employers capitalize on the high level of unemployment and the quest to maximize profits to engage casual workers and pay them slave wages under deplorable conditions".
He also stressed that most employers, especially in the banking sector and other sectors in attempt to cover up their illegal acts, outsource jobs to firms to recruit workers for them.
Speaking further, Raji said most casual workers do not get compensated when injured in the cause of their duty. He said the root causes of most deaths of workers are due to negligence of safety measures.
"Their family members or love ones are neither compensated and they are also not entitled to medical facilities in the case of ill-health".
"Every individual has the fundamental right to receive compensation of any sort, so nobody should be subjected to slavery", Raji reiterated.
The motion received wild acceptability by members present. Abdul Sani who spoke in support of the motion said casualization is practiced all over the world but what is not right with that of Nigeria is non compliance to the existing labour laws and need to review the pay package of workers. He said if workers can be paid according to the hours they put in.
The Leader of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila also added his voice in support of the motion. He called on relevant authorities to quickly wade into the matter. He also suggested amendment of the Nigeria Labour Act to make it a law so that employers will stop catching on the loopholes.
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