…as govt examines bill to address issues

By Ebun Sessou

The rate at which domestic violence increases on a daily basis is alarming. There are many cases of domestic staff killing their employers as well as some employers taking advantage of their domestic staff.

Some of these house helps are victims of rape, ritual killing, trafficking among others. The big question therefore is, what can be done to address this problem?

A friend of mine, Mrs Onome (not real name), shared her ugly experience of how her maid murdered her six-month old baby two years ago.

“My house-help drowned my son in water and left him there for hours. She claimed that the baby was disturbing her with his cry and that she couldn’t bear it. She then submerged the baby in water so she could sleep.

“When she saw that he was no longer crying, she brought him out of the water and laid him on the couch. The baby was there until I came back.

“I asked after my baby and she said he was sleeping. When I got to where he was laid, I discovered the baby was dead. I did not know how I got to the hospital. Today, that lady succeeded in murdering my son”, she lamented.

A member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Tunde Braimoh, also shared his lawyer friend’s experience whose wife was murdered by his guard with Woman’s Own. “My friend told me how his guard conspired with robbers to rob him. In the process, he killed my friend’s wife while he (lawyer) sustained injuries. Until now, he is still nursing the injury.

“There are many ugly stories of domestic staff service and we cannot pretend that nothing is happening. People like the late Funso Williams was murdered by his securityman. There was a story of a magistrate that was killed and a pilot killed and thrown into the well in his compound by his guard,” he highlighted.

Domestic Staff Service Registry Bill

Recently, the Lagos State House of Assembly showed intention to enhance domestic security and welfare with the establishment of the Domestic Staff Service Providers Registry in the state.

This was disclosed during a Public Hearing on a Bill For a Law for the Registration of Domestic Staff Service Providers in Lagos State and for other Connected Purposes.

Speaking on the bill, the Speaker of the House, Mr Mudashiru Obasa said that the objective of the proposed law is to register Domestic Staff Service Providers operating in Lagos State.

Obasa, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni, said the House was poised to improve safety in various homes where domestic staff were engaged.

According to him: “The service of all domestic staff including house helps, drivers, gardeners, security men and others, is quite germane.

“Many homes have suffered one abuse or the other from these house helps. We need to ensure we don’t engage those who will harm us.

“Profiling these house helps will help to ensure that those employed can be traced in case of child abuse or criminal tendencies.

“The bill will also outlaw hiring of under-aged as domestic staff, “ Obasa said.

Collaborating the Speaker, Braimoh, Chairman, House Ad hoc Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, Lagos State House of Assembly, representing Kosofe II, said, the bill is germane and relevant to the daily lives of the people.

“The issue of domestic staff service has been a central issue to our living as a people. There are lots of issues relating to domestic services and we cannot ignore those issues.

“The era of bringing one’s children to live with relatives has passed and that is why the service of domestic staff is inevitable. And because the extended family issue is declining, there is need to look inward and strengthen the law that allows domestic staff service provider.

“We will need people to support us in the house and so, it is important that we engage the service of the domestic staff. There is hardly a family that does not have a domestic staff.

“Unfortunately, some of the domestic staff do not have traceable background hence the establishment of the bill. Many lives have been lost in the hands of these domestic staff and vice versa. Some of the domestic staff cause more harm than good and walk freely on the streets but with the existence of this law, it will be easy to trace and apprehend them.

“We should be able to track them when they commit crime and prosecute them,” he said.

Abuse of domestic staff

On abuse of domestic staff, Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said that slavery should be avoided, adding that nationals of  neighbouring countries should be registered to trace every domestic staff.

He added that the bill should provide for medical examination for domestic staff brought into the state in order to curtail spread of diseases.

Falana added: “There should also be an annual report to be submitted to the House through the registrar on the state of domestic staff to regularly checkmate increasing waves of domestic violence.”

Falana also advised that there was a need for the state to partner with the Nigerian Immigration Service to checkmate human traffickers who posed as domestic staff providers.

“There shall be no domestic staff in Lagos under the age of 18 because anybody under the age of 18 is considered a child under the Child Right Law of Lagos State.

Braimoh said there is need to regularise the bill in order to know who is handling what. Some people take advantage of the domestic staff and that is why the law will not spare anyone who is convicted. Some of these domestic staff are used for rituals, some are rape victims and that is why the bill will take care of all the issues related to domestic staff service.

With the provision of the bill, the domestic staff service providers would required to profile those who he or she is engaging and sending to people’s homes. Such provider must have meant the criteria stipulated in the bill so as to guarantee the relationship of the domestic staff and the employers.