President Muhammadu Buhari has tasked the incoming administration to respect workers rights as encapsulated in International Labour Organisation (ILO), declarations on labour matters.
Buhari made the call at the commemoration of the 2023 Workers Day, with the theme; “`Workers Rights and Socio-Economic Justice’’’, on Monday in Abuja.
Buhari, represented by Mr Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
The president said Nigeria, as a viable member state of the ILO and a connoisseur of workers’ rights, had ratified all the core conventions of the organisation, guarding and promoting rights at work.
“In June1998, a declaration was optimistically made by the ILO to establish a social minimum at the global level, to respond to the realities of globalisation.
“Hence, the birth of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in 1998, and amended in 2022, as an expression by the tripartite body of the ILO-government-employers’ and workers’ organisations.
“This is to uphold basic human values regarded as vital to socio-economic lives by affirming to respect five broad categories of workers’ rights at work, embodying more than nine conventions,’’ Buhari said.
The President also listed the rights to include; Freedom of Association and the Effective Recognition of the Right to Collective Bargaining, the Elimination of all forms of Forced or Compulsory Labour, and the Effective Abolition of Child Labour.
Others he said were the Elimination of Discrimination in respect of Employment and Occupation, and a Safe and Healthy Working Environment.
