From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The federal government on Tuesday launched a five-year (2024-2028) strategic plan of action for occupational health and safety in public workplaces.
The document is expected to guide the health sector, alongside its stakeholders, on the best way to respond to and manage work-related diseases, injuries, and accidents in order to improve the health, well-being, and productivity of employees.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, at the launch of the document in Abuja, announced that an estimated N1.34 billion will be needed for the execution of activities contained in the action plan in the next five years.
He was, however, optimistic that the new document would open a new vista for the implementation of occupational health and safety services in Nigeria.
He added that aside from the fact that the document will give strategic direction to the Ministry and other stakeholders, it will improve national productivity through a consistently high level of health among workers in all occupations by promoting a healthy environment for the Nigerian workforce that is safe to live and work in.
But for an effective implementation of the five-year strategic plan, government at all levels, partners, donors, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations (CSO), philanthropists, and other stakeholders must work together to mobilise the required resources.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Daju Kachallom, said the Occupational Health and Safety Division and similar agencies at the state level would be asked to carry out health risk assessment and surveillance in the formal and informal sectors in a bid to determine workers’ health, identify hazards, and evaluate the work environment of workplaces.
She assured that the Ministry will do its best to ensure that the health of workers is highly prioritised as a national occupational health and safety culture in which the right to a safe and healthy working environment is respected at all levels, where governments, employers, and workers actively participate in securing a safe and healthy working environment through a system of defined rights, responsibilities and duties, and where the highest priority is accorded to the principle of prevention.
He appealed to all stakeholders and partners/donors including the media to support the Ministry in the implementation of the strategic plan, and also create awareness of the importance of the well-being of workers at their place of work.