A non-governmental organisation committed to the protection of rights of women and children, CEE-HOPE, has defended the rights of domestic workers in Nigeria to unionise, be treated with dignity and be included in the National Minimum Wage bill that was recently passed by the Senate.
The public hearing, held on July 22, was part of the legislative process in the working of a bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Documentation and Protection of Domestic Workers and the Employers and for Other Matters Connected Therewith, 2024.(SB. 272)” The Bill was sponsored by the Senator representing Jigawa North-West, Babangida Hussaini.
At the opening of the public hearing, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the Senate under his leadership would give utmost consideration to the proposed bill and work tirelessly to ensure its swift passage.
The Senate President later announced that Domestic Workers are covered by the Minimum Wage Bill passed on July 24 by the Senate.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity, Senator Diket Plang, assured that the Bill would receive priority attention because persons mostly recruited as domestic workers in Nigeria are children and girls under the age of 18. He said despite their invaluable contributions, they are often subjected to exploitation, abuse and discrimination, a menace the Bill seeks to address by providing a legal framework for the documentation and protection of domestic workers and their employers.
Plang said about the Bill: “It will require employers to register their domestic workers with appropriate authorities, provide them with a written contract that outlines their rights and responsibilities. Likewise, the employers are also being protected from some domestic workers that may cause havoc to the families they are employed to take care of.”
Betty Abah, women and children’s rights activist and founder of CEE-HOPE, who has been a strong advocate for the rights of domestic workers in Nigeria, presented the NGO’s memorandum at the hearing in which she made a strong case for their unionisation as prescribed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) ‘Convention 189’ passed in 2011 and which Nigeria, a member state, adopted but has yet to domesticate.
“By adopting the ILO’s Convention 189 which prescribes fair working conditions for domestic workers among which is unionisation, a lot of progress would be made as they would be aware of their human and labour rights, get fair wages and be part of the mainstream, organised labour. This is possible because it is already in force in several countries including African countries like South Africa and Kenya,” said Abah.
Present at the one-day event were several senators and dignitaries including Senator Osita Izunaso (Imo West), Senator Victor Umeh (Anambra Central) amongst others who also made remarks and recommendations.
The meeting also drew several stakeholders including the National Council for Women Society, the National Human Rights Commission, Nannies Academy, journalists and several others, many of whom also made presentations.
Also at the hearing was Mrs. Angela Abah Odah, Country Manager of the Rosaluxemburg Foundation West Africa which supports CEE-HOPE’s campaign on the rights of domestic workers in Nigeria as well as several of CEE-HOPE’s Abuja-based volunteers.
Mrs. Odah expressed both satisfaction and dissatisfaction at the meeting. “It is it a huge step in the right direction that Senator Babagida Uba is pushing this bill on domestic work, in view of the fact that its coming 13 years after Nigeria signed convention 189 and its additional protocols but no attempt made to domesticate it,” she said.
“Domestic Workers play strategic roles in the running of our homes and suffer in all forms of violence and exploitation in the process.Strengthening the legal framework guiding their working conditions is a revolutionary change that should be supported.
“I was however disappointed with the implementation of the public hearing; civil society organisations and partners that came from across the country were not given enough time to express their views and perspectives which defeats the objective of a public hearing. Any Nigerian has a right to participate and express their views and perspectives on strengthening the laws guiding domestic work in Nigeria.
“Similarly, there were no domestic workers at the public hearing to speak on their experiences and offer recommendations for improvement. For future forums on this bill and other bills the Senate must ensure all stakeholders are mobilised to ensure a holistic law that meets the aspirations of all stakeholders is promulgated,” added Odah.
