Society urges Nigerians to conduct background check on domestic staff

The Society for Professional Background Screening (SPBS) has urged Nigerians and corporate organisations to conduct background checks before employing or engaging any individual as a domestic staff.

The Society, which is the umbrella body of professional background screeners in Nigeria, issued this advisory on the back of incessant criminal activities being carried out by domestic staff across Nigeria in recent times.

Kola Olugbodi, chairman, SPBS, disclosed in a statement that the call became necessary because people are being murdered by their domestic staff at an alarming rate. He also added that several families have lost their loved ones as well as valuables to domestic staffers.

Olugbodi stated further that the attendant risks associated with lack of due diligence in engaging domestic staff is serious, and that there are huge risks in employing domestic staff without conducting background checks.

The SPBS chairman expressed the readiness of the Society to cooperate with relevant stakeholders and called for concerted efforts in eliminating criminal acts arising from faulty employment procedures in regard to domestic staffers.

He also challenged outsourcing firms directly involved in employing domestic staff to strongly focus on conducting background checks to forestall any criminal behaviour.

“When there are stringent and well laid down procedures for employing domestic staff, crime will be totally eliminated or reduced to the barest minimum.”

Olugbodi also advocated for a database to provide detailed information on prospective domestic staff. According to him, this will be a potent tool to eliminate criminal behaviour through proper authentication of claims and verification of information provided by the domestic staff.

He equally harped on the need to ensure safety of lives and properties through adequate focus on background check for domestic staff. “Proper background checks, due diligence and authentication of employee claims will prevent the bad incidents of killings being witnessed in the country.”