FG, ILO urge more commitment to labour policies in ECOWAS region

The Federal Government and the International Labour Organization (ILO) has urged Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to show more commitment and political will in the implementation of labour policies and programmes in the sub-region.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, William Alo, made this call while giving his remarks during the 4^th Ministerial Meeting with Ministers of Labour and employment and senior tripartite representatives from the ECOWAS region.

The Ministerial meeting was preceded by  the Meeting of Labour Experts and General Assembly of ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum, which held from 16^th – 18^th July in Abuja with the theme “Strengthening Social Dialogue for the Promotion of Decent Work in the ECOWAS Region.”

Alo noted that the sub-region needed renewed commitment and passion to drive the tenets of Decent Work and other labour policies.

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According to him, “We cannot continue to be paying lip service to issues of labour administration in the sub-region. The time has come for us to make a radical departure from the past if we are to bequeath onto future generation an ECOWAS sub-region that prides itself in the attainment of the tenets of decent work.”

He hoped that the Meeting would approve all the proposals presented by the General Assembly, and then go back home to transform them into programmes of action to deepen decent work in the sub-region.

The Meeting of Labour Experts/General Assembly of ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum, which held from 16^th – 18^th July in Abuja was convened to review, validate and adopt key policy texts on labour and employment; build consensus on topical issues, amongst others.

The Permanent Secretary pledged the continued support of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission in its determination in addressing knotty employment and labour issues in the sub-region.

In an address, the Commissioner, Social Affairs and Gender, ECOWAS Commission, Siga Fatima Jagne, said the Meeting was for Labour experts to submit their priorities and recommendations for the attention of the Ministers of Labour and Employment.

She stated that the Social Dialogue Forum, which preceded the Ministers’ Meeting, had deliberated, revised, validated and adopted the Directive on Minimum Standards towards Harmonization of Labour Laws in the ECOWAS Region, and ECOWAS Regional Program for Decent Work (DWRP).

”The two documents will be the key frameworks that ECOWAS and Member States can apply to achieve the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work adopted by the Conference at the 108^th Session held in June, 2019; and will specifically address the challenges to shape a fair, inclusive and secure future of work with full, productive and freely chosen employment and decent work for all”, she said.

She urged the Ministers to adopt the text that would be presented to them and all the recommendations therein to enable the ECOWAS Commission put in place regional mechanisms to facilitate and enhance the social integration of citizens in the Community and create conditions for decent and regulated jobs at Member States’ level without xenophobia and other forms of discrimination.

In an opening remark, the Minister of Labour and Employment of Niger Republic, Mohammed Bil Omar, stated that the recommendations of the General Assembly Meeting would strengthen social dialogue in the sub-region.

Also speaking, Country Director of ILO in Nigeria Dennis Zulu, urged the Ministers of Labour and Employment in ECOWAS region to ensure that decent work was guaranteed for citizens of the sub-region.

He however, lamented that ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum has yet to achieve a day-to-day substantive integration into regional and national planning and implementation structures.  He added that ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum is severely hampered by basic issues like financial sustainability and basic human resource support, which threaten its viability and undermine its effectiveness.

He therefore suggested that in order to reap the benefit of regional integration in the ECOWAS region, a realistic view of the financial and structural requirements of the ECOWAS Social Dialogue Forum is needed.

“Adequate budgets are required in order to ensure suitability, and ECOWAS member states should take on the budgetary responsibility for participation of tripartite representatives in the ECOWAS Dialogue Forum,” he said.