Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has said the Federal Government has put machinery in motion to register more employers associations, besides the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).
He said government wanted more of the associations as a way of promoting the diversification of the economy and preparation for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.
Ngige stated this at the 2020 Fellow’s Award and Human Resources (HR) Recognition Ceremonies of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN) in Abuja.
He said the government would need to liberalise and accommodate more federations, especially for the different agriculture and agro-allied industries, mines, indigenous oil and gas employers.
“Government has decided to widen the scope of private sector participation in human resource management aspect of the public sector in conformity with Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principles on freedom of association and collective bargaining. Therefore, we have put machinery in motion to register new employers federations to cover the entire country, besides NECA, which is still circumscribed to Lagos area.
“My ministry will come out with the guidelines for this in the next few weeks as a way of helping the diversification efforts of the government and to prepare us for the implementation of the AfCFTA signed by the government of Nigeria for free trade and exchange of goods within the African continent.”
Ngige re-affirm the commitment of the Buhari administration to worker’s welfare and human capital development, in spite of the country’s economic challenges.
He said for Nigeria to surmount all its present challenges, citizens should rise and collectively build a more resilient, stronger and better economy in other to restore hope and build a more prosperous nation.