Stakeholders in the labour sector in Nigeria on Wednesday commence validation of the revised National Policy on Labour Migration (NPLM,2014).
Speaking at a workshop for stakeholders to validate the revised Policy, the Director Employment and Wages, Mr. John Nyamali said federal government is determined to manage organized labour migration in the country and harness its benefits for national development.
He said the journey started with the adoption of the National Policy on Labour Migration (NPLM) and its Action Plan in October 15 2014, as a sectoral policy and the governance framework for Labour Migration management in Nigeria.
According to him, “you will recall that the policy was formulated and validated through a highly participatory process and consultations with a wide range of stakeholders in the Nigerian migratory space with technical support from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
“The Policy after many years of implementation was due for review, and in line with section 5.6 of the Policy concerning Monitoring, Evaluation and Review, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment commenced the process of reviewing and updating the policy in 2019 in collaboration with stakeholders in a bid to incorporate emerging global migration dynamics and national realities on labour migration to further strengthen labour migration governance in Nigeria.
“The review process was largely facilitated by a national Consultant with support from the German Development Cooperation (GIZ)} in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) within the framework of the project “Initiative for Labour Migration, Employment and Reintegration in Nigeria and Ghana” which was implemented by ILO from January 2019 -September, 2020.
“Consequently, the Consultant, after interfacing with stakeholders, submitted a draft of the reviewed Policy to the Ministry, and in accordance with the institutional framework for policy implementation, the first presentation of the draft of the revised policy was made to the Social Partner Advisory Committee on 16! June 2020 to obtain their inputs and comments into the document.
“While, a follow-up presentation was also made to the Technical Working Committee members on the 30′ June, 2020 to receive additional feedback from members into the revised document in preparation for its validation”.
Also speaking , the Director, ILO Country Office for Nigena, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS Vanessa Phala expressed the readiness of the organisation to continue to support the process of revising the National Policy on Labour Migration adopted by the Federal Goverment of Nigeria in 2014.
She said the validation exercise becomes more significant at a period characterized by an increase in the number of migrant workers globally from 164 million in 2017 to 169 million in 2019.
According to her, ” I would like to place on record assurances of ILO’s commitment to support the Ministry and indeed the government of Nigeria towards a conclusive end of this”.