Why workers in private sector enjoy zero decent work, labour right benefits in Nigeria —Eustace

Mr James Eustace is the Assistant General Secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Focal Person on Labour Migration. He is also the contact person between NLC and the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In this interview with CHRISTIAN APPOLOS, he speaks on migrant-workers labour and human rights-driven collaboration between the two labour platforms, and why many Nigeria workers in the private sector are enjoying almost zero decent work benefits. 

 

Migration governance is one of the top issues the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and NLC are currently collaborating on. Why are migrant workers’ rights suddenly an issue that has taken the centre stage in the working space of ILO, NLC and perhaps other trade union organisations in the world today?

Migration is a historical event that is as old as human existence. Human relations have always promoted migration. The emerging scenario that has put focus on migration issues today is the mismanagement of migration which has created a crisis.

Like we have always argued in the labor movement, migration itself is not the problem, management of migration is the problem. And it is even being furthered today as a result of rising populist governments. The populist government has taken advantage of migration control to win power in their various states and that has led to demonising  migrants, particularly migrant workers before the nationals.

A good example will be the Trump campaign slogan – ‘We will build the wall’, and the average American then saw migrants as the problem of the employment and economic crisis their country faced. Trump was seen as a Messiah who wanted to deal with that issue. But he was proven wrong because his solution did not solve the problem. Though it made populists believe that the only way to resolve national and economic crises is to deal with migration issues. Of course, most countries that adopted that approach failed woefully.

Thanks to the COVID-19, because it provided an opportunity through which migrant workers proved to be more useful and more important than the populist opinion thought before the crisis. The contemporary discourse is that migrant workers were those who handled COVID-19 and even contributed to ameliorating the crisis that would have followed.

Therefore the debate today is about protecting migrant workers’ rights; giving migrant workers freedom because of the so much they have contributed in the countries of their residence that have helped the countries to overcome some of the challenges they faced.

As you know, the ILO is one of the most specialised institutions within the UN system that pursues social justice. The very ILO constitution revolves around social justice. What that means is that migrant workers, national workers, everybody deserve social justice. The only way that you can achieve social justice is first; to respect the human and labour rights of every citizen, of everybody, whether immigrant, national, displaced or stateless persons.

It is in line with this belief that ILO  ab initio came up with conventions, protocols and recommendations that regulate migrant workers, that regulates labour mobility, because migrant worker is about labour mobility.

So the ILO has every worker dear to its heart, especially those that are in vulnerable situations. Studies have shown that migrants are among the most vulnerable workers. And to promote the protection of their rights, both the human and labour rights of migrant workers, the ILO considered it very expedient to work with national institutions, including the labour movement (the trade union organisations), of which the NLC is one in Nigeria. That is why the ILO is at the moment collaborating with the NLC to implement activities that will promote labour migration in Nigeria.

We started implementing an agreement last year which we are still carrying over to this year. Currently the ILO is also asking us to submit proposals for 2022 activities that will further the partnership and collaboration to promote better labour migration governance and management in Nigeria.

 

From when you started these collaborative activities till now, how productive will you say your efforts have been? 

The activities are objective targeted and I can tell you that they are contributing immensely to achieving the objectives that these activities target. Among the objectives are awareness creation, sensitisation and mobilising our constituency to be active in the migration space. Before now, our constituency, especially our affiliates, which the media belongs to, have not been too active in the space. But I am sure with the activities carried out so far, the media now know more about what migration of governance is all about and they are really happy to be part of the migration governance structure.

 

In Nigeria, there are many workers who are not enjoying  labour rights, especially in the private sector. To what extent will this campaign be of benefit to such persons?

There are two different issues. Fighting for a decent work agenda for all is different from the issue of migration governance. Yes, a lot of Nigerian workers are lacking decent and better working conditions which informed the core of the labour movement struggle. But the concept of labour migration struggle believes that the migrants are a particular set of workers that deserve our attention.

That is why the core of our struggle for promotion of better migration management and governance, is that the vulnerable migrant workers and their families should have the respect of their human and labour rights and be treated only on an equal basis along with national workers.

President Muhammadu Buhari recently approved a National Diaspora Fund, but migration is not just about diaspora. The core of migration governance is about the protection of the human labour rights of migrant workers. The most vulnerable sets of migrants are the working people, especially the undocumented migrants. So the diasporas are those that are already established. They can fight for their rights, they know their way and even if they migrated in an undocumented status, they have become regularised and are  documented.

Nigeria must begin to shift focus from diaspora to the key issue of protecting the vulnerable migrant workers. It is only then that we will be making progress like other countries are doing. Nigeria, up till today, has not finalised any bilateral labour agreement with any other country. How then will you manage Nigerian workers that are migrating abroad? What is even the guide to regulate labour migrants that are in Nigeria today?

Our government must wake up and think towards progressive approach to better migration governance, including funding migration activities from budgetary provisions.

 

 You just mentioned progressive approach, so let’s bring it back home to what Nigerians are going through here in our country. Using the banking industry as a reference point, what can government and the labour unions in collaboration do to change the narrative in regards to workers enjoying human and labour rights against the slave-like working conditions that are prevalent? 

Recently, I attended a UN meeting on the implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria, and it was laughable to hear some debates that lay emphasis on the private sector-driven economy. Studies and evidence have shown that private sector businesses cannot be the major drivers of the economy.

When you look at what happened during the global financial crunch in the United States, state-owned businesses outshined the private sector and that is why Stegley came out to say that the private sector-driven economy is a utopia because there is no private sector without a public sector.

Yes, the private sector is our feeder, the informal economy is our feeder but the commanding heart of the economy as contained in our constitution is that it should be state-driven, not private sector-driven. It is these private sector strategies that are leading to a decrease in decent work agenda because the private sector is profit-driven.

That social element of development that was supposed to be the key responsibility of the state is no longer there. The private sector man wants to cut down the number of leave days and wants to cut down the number of entitlements all in the name of making huge profits.

So, decent work can only be promoted in Nigeria if the state lives up to its responsibility of providing a conducive environment for investment, creating an enabling environment for decent jobs and also itself being a major employer of labour.

When you say you are handing over public services that were hitherto provided through public services, to the private sector, what does that mean? A reduction in those gains that the employees of that establishment enjoy before. If you were working eight hours before you now have to work for 12 hours. If you were paid leave allowance of 24 working days before, they will tell you it is now 24 calendar days. What it means is that there is a race to the bottom.

The state must live up to his responsibility as contained in  our constitution to ensure that the social elements of employment are maintained. This Include provision for social protection, social security, gender sensitivity and assuring that living and decent wages are provided.

How do you promote decent work when some states have not implemented the minimum wage? Living wage is a major element of a decent work agenda and that is the struggle of the trade union movement. What they don’t understand is that decent work is a key element to development. That is why you see developed countries are doing better than us. Even in the heat of COVID-19 crisis, developed countries were increasing wages of their workers. Developed countries are ensuring that their workers enjoy free quality medical services because you need to be healthy to be able to contribute.

What is happening in the private sector is clearly because of neo-liberal policies. The government adopting neo-liberal policies and surrendering their responsibilities to the private sector; that is what is called quasi government. The multinational companies are now quasi government. They are even supra governments and they dictate what will happen in the government cycle.