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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Organised Labour has said that the mental well-being of Nigerian workers is being affected by heat waves resulting from environmental degradation.
This was revealed by NLC Senior Assistant General Secretary, Eustace James, during the official unveiling of the Stop Heat Stress Campaign in Abuja on Thursday.
James said that the campaign was based on research commissioned by the Solidarity Center, which showed that workers in Nigeria were being adversely affected by heat waves induced by climate change.
He explained that the campaign’s objective is to advocate for climate justice through partnerships with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and government bodies involved in environmental efforts.
According to him, “There are a number of health hazards at work places that may not be very obvious, including mental health.
“Mental health does not mean that one is completely mentally deranged. Anything that puts stress on your brain, constitutes mental health and heat waves are one of such, because heat waves make you very uncomfortable at work and even your thinking faculty is affected, which is one of the issues when you are talking about mental health. So, environmental degradation and hazards contribute seriously to heatwaves.
“We are here to officially launch the campaign to stop the heat stress. This campaign is to be championed by the trade union and its partners that cut across civil society organisation, MDAs, environmentalists and academia. The campaign is key to promoting environmental justice, promoting occupational health and safety and a safe working environment for Nigerian workers and Nigerians in general.
“The campaign is being built on the findings of a research that was commissioned by the solidarity center, a labour friendly organisation, which is an arm of the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), the biggest trade union centre in the United States that provides support to trade unions across the globe.
“The findings of the research have been critically examined for the past two days and analyzed, with the results that yes, the findings are key and can form Campaign ads and advocacy acts for us to go further.
“This campaign will contain a number of activities that will include advocacy visits to the various stakeholders that will entail street rallies and other activities that will ensure that the message is out there because global warming is real and we cannot run from and global warming arising from environmental degradation which the campaign focuses on and one of the impact from global warming and environmental degradation is heat stress, which workers are facing and we cannot fold our hands to that. This necessitates this campaign that we are launching today.
“We have those working with us on this task from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Labour, specifically, the department of climate change and occupational health and safety and there are various policies that these institutions have in place for environmental protection and some of the stakeholders identified here are institutions like National Natural Council on Climate Change, which have their various policies and acts that are guiding their operations and are established. So, we are going to be at the forefront, championing what the state government and non-state actors are doing. It is simply to contribute to their work and ensure that there is intensity in ensuring that there is safety and climate justice for all.”
