The first of May every year is reserved as workers’ day in most parts of the world. It is popularly referred to as “May Day”.
Bringing it back home to Nigeria, in every May Day celebration, the two focal complaints of workers in Nigeria have always been; low pay and casualization/exploitation of workers.
Nigerian Workers constantly complain that “they work like elephants but get paid like ants”. The economic meltdown is not as well helping the matter. The purchasing power of the naira keeps reducing hence why the minimum wage should constantly be adjusted to reflect the current state of the economy to help Nigerian workers enjoy a good standard of living.
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As for the Nigerian workers’ grievances concerning the casualization of workers; the Casualization of workers is just a baptismal name for the exploitation of workers. It is the trend in which an increasing number of workers are employed on a casual or temporary or contract basis, rather than being offered permanent or full-time employment with regular working hours and benefits in the organization
I was a guest on Voice of the People Fm, Lagos on the 1st of May, where I joined the host to discuss the problems of Nigeria workers and my eyes were opened to how much of a problem casualization of workers in Nigeria has been. Most of the callers that called in complained about how they are being exploited in their different places of work; instead of giving them full-time employment, their employers would rather tag them “contract staff” so that they can easily be dispensed or retrenched with no benefits but they would be used to work more than full-time workers but with lesser pay and lesser benefits.
The most guilty employers (according to the callers) are Lebanese, Chinese and Indian companies. These foreign companies that are operating in Nigeria have no regard for workers’ rights nor have they acquiesced themselves with the Nigerian labour laws to learn how to legally treat their workers.
According to the Nigerian labour act, particularly in section 7; you cannot use a worker to work for you for more than three months on a temporary basis or as a contract staff. Once an employee has worked for the company for more than three months, the organization is mandated by law to make that employee a full-time staff member and issue him his letter of employment containing the terms of the employment and the benefits.
“Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker’s period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying…” (S 7(1) of the Labour Act).
Most of these workers do not even know about these rights they are to enjoy as employees and they are as well ignorant of the fact that their rights as an employee have been protected by law and it is enforceable in law when these rights have been stepped upon by their employers. Some workers who know of these statutory provisions protecting their rights are reluctant in enforcing them due to the fact there are not too many jobs in Nigeria and you can only be grateful to be given a chance to work, because behind you are hundreds of other qualified persons vying for that job of yours.
Employers should take care of their employees and stop exploiting their employees because it is the proper thing to do and when an employee is well motivated he does more. You motivate your employees by not just financial inducements (which is very important), but also by providing a healthy working environment and maintaining a good working culture.
Workers are the lifeline of any economy, therefore, they should be pampered and be well taken care of.