The Minister of Employment, Labour, and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, says the Federal Executive Council will soon come up with a policy directive on employment in the country.
The Minister said casualization of Nigerian graduates in the Nigerian labour market has become worrisome, accusing the banking sector, oil and gas industries, and the communication sector as major perpetrators of the act.
He hinted that statistics from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics indicated that two out of every five persons working in Nigerian banks are contract staff and of the 95,888 staff in 23 Nigerian banks within the period, 40,382 are contract staff representing 42.11 %.
Senator Ngige gave the hint in his address at a one-day public hearing on a bill for an act to provide for the Prohibition of Casualization in all forms of employment in the private and public sector in Nigeria Establishment Bill 2021 organized by the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity headed by Senator Godiya Akwashiki.
The NNPC Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, who was represented by the Group Executive Director, Corporate Services, Aisha Farida Katagum, urged the committee to give the NNPC some time to study and review the bill before taking a position.
She stressed that with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the NNPC is currently undergoing some reforms which may address the issues raised in the bill.
Katagum also dismissed fears expressed by the Nigeria Labour Congress that there would be a massive sack of workers in NNPC in view of the ongoing reforms in the oil ànd gas sector.
The sponsor of the bill, Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo state) said the casualization of Nigerian graduates in the Nigerian labour market has become of great concern as more workers are made to be inferior to their counterparts in other countries of the world.
The bill seeks to prohibit casualization of employment in both private and public sectors, Protect vulnerable workers against unfair labour practices.
Impose legal duty on employers of labour both in private and public sector establishments to convert casual employment to permanent status among others.
Criminalize casualization of employment where it is contrary to the bill.