When NLC, NECA, ILO met on migration, unemployment

Following the just concluded three-day Sub-Regional Tripartite Consultation for the formulation of skills partnership on migration in West Africa and the Sahel in Abuja, Labour, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other stakeholders are set to strategise ways to build skills partnership to address the issues of migration and unemployment which have remained prevalent in […]

Following the just concluded three-day Sub-Regional Tripartite Consultation for the formulation of skills partnership on migration in West Africa and the Sahel in Abuja, Labour, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other stakeholders are set to strategise ways to build skills partnership to address the issues of migration and unemployment which have remained prevalent in the continent.

The ILO consultation commenced on Wednesday 11 and ended Friday 13 September 2019. It also fell under the recently launched ‘Global Skills Partnership on Migration Initiative’ in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UNESCO, the International Employers Organisation (IOE) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The Assistant Director General and Regional Director for Africa, Cynthia Samuel Olonjuwon, said the meeting was to validate research findings and find out key opportunities to forge skills partnerships on migration in the regions of focus.

The occasion also aimed at mobilizing technical expertise towards supporting governments, employers, workers and organizations; educational institutes, and training providers and other stakeholders to develop and recognize the skills of migrant workers with a particular focus on women and youths.

In attaining that, ILO disclosed that it will collaborate with its social partners for the excellent delivery of decent work result in Africa as well as fair migration in the African continent.

It was in that respect, she stated, that the organisation has directed its efforts to promote skills acquisition, competencies and qualifications for all workers throughout their working lives as it is a joint responsibility of government and social partners to address existing and anticipated skills gaps, and pay particular attention to ensuring education and training systems are responsive to labour market needs.

According to her, labour market dynamics are reasons people migrate in search of better opportunities.

“Informal employment has remained high, at close to 86 percent, extreme working poverty is high, at 32.5 percent and labour productivity growth is low, only 1.1 percent.

Despite the decent working deficits in agriculture, the sector still employs 51 per cent of the population, with most of them women. Currently, the share of youths Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEETS) is 26.1 percent in North Africa and 15.5 percent in sub-Saharan Africa,” she said.

She stated that it was for that reason that migration is therefore among the key drivers of change in Africa which has affected the future of work.

She said, “Migration is already a reality, in West Africa and Sahel, along with East African community which are the regions with the highest share of migrant workers – compared to all other regions in Africa.”

“We speak about 6.7 million people. Migration within West Africa and the Sahel is much higher than migration to destinations outside the region,” Cynthia further stated.

Highlighting pathways to curb this menace, she stressed the need for African countries to ensure there is trust amongst themselves, stating that, “skills partnership will clearly be about strengthening trust between countries, access to skills by migrants, and use of social dialogue approach.”

The Nigeria Labour Congress NLC, said labour shared in the vision of ILO to bring Government, Social Partners and the other allies in the ECOWAS Sub-Region and the sahel to explore veritable ways collectively to promote fair, orderly and regular migration.

The NLC, represented by its General Secretary, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, commended what he called the initiative and effort to support all actors, especially critical stakeholders in the workplace to share knowledge and good practices on policies that promote better migration governance and management.

Ugboaja, however, expressed delight stating that “the NLC supports all efforts to strengthen the understanding of all stakeholders with bias to trade union centres and their affiliate unions across the sub-region on free movement and migration and how they can actively contribute to better management of migration and link it to development and the actualization of the decent work agenda.”

He further disclosed that NLC has commenced internal fine-tuning processes aimed at an aggressive and sustained move in support of fair migration.

Director General of Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Timothy Olawole, who was represented by Adeboje Adjala Adenike called for deliberate steps to bridge the gap between skills and available jobs in the ECOWAS and the Sahel, adding that employers’ the world over are always willing to invest in capacity building and technical skills acquisition for the general development of the society.