BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

THE increasing rate of unfair employment policies in the country was weekend brought to fore, by the Campaign for Democracy, CD, Women Arise for Change Initiative WACI, which decried the wanton exploitation of Nigerians by local and multinational companies through casualisation.

President of CD and WACI, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin lamented that about 49.9 percent of workers in the oil and gas, telecommunication and cement manufacturing companies were casuals, comprising about 45 percent of the country’s labour force.

At the seminar organised by Construction and Civil Engineering Staff Association, CCESA, Dr.Okei-Odumakin, called on the Federal Government, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC and other stakeholders to come together to find a lasting solution to the problem of casualisation in Nigeria.

The President of CD and WACI urged the Federal Government to develop policies that would check the  casualisation and other forms of exploitation of Nigerian workers by both local and multinational companies operating in the country, saying “government must fulfill the promise made to Nigerian workers by ensuring that they are not treated as third class citizens in their places of work.”

Raising alarm over the harrowing experiences Nigerian workers go through in the hand of their employers, she stressed the need for government to intensify campaign to eradicate casualisation because it “is slave trade.”

Dr. Okei-Odumakin noted that casualisation started in the construction industry and had surreptitiously permeated into almost all sectors of the economy especially, the oil and gas industry, banking, manufacturing, telecommunication and aviation industry, lamenting that this “has become a very disturbing phenomenon as the casual employees’ condition of employment are not clearly spelt out.

I have wondered often time how on earth some people would be so callous as to take delight in been wicked and ruthless with their employees.

It also baffles me that workers can become third class citizens in their own father’s land, we see foreign employers threat Nigerian workers with disdain, and we see continuous derogation of the average Nigerian worker through casualisation. Part of the pains casual workers have to go through are that they never benefit from special packages like others, mos of the time they are treated like lepers. They never have the full entitle ments on the job allowances, transportation, leave allowances medicals etc.

“Recent development showed that most multinationals bring into Nigeria foreign workers to take full time employment with all the benefit that accrue to the position wherea s there are millions of Nigerians who are better qualified for the job.

As I speak, about 2500 Chinese artisans are engaged on a full time at Lafarge WAPCO Cement at Ewekoro, over 5,000 are said to be working at an on-going electrification project at Papalanto, with over 3,000 in Sango at Ado-Odo Ota Local Government of Ogun State working as artisans in different companies whereas, Nigerian workers are placed on very nasty allowances as casual workers. It is high time we did something to concrete about it now.”