By Joan Nwagwu
An Award winning journalist of Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, Mrs Sharon Ijasan has called on the Federal Government and Organised Labour to protect the workers in the informal sector.
Ijasan made the call at her book lunch titled, The Future of Work: Is the Tripartite Body in Africa ready for Digital Economy on Monday in Abuja.
Ijasan is a TVC’s Labour Correspondent who had won other several awards.
She said the writing of the book was inspired by the wealth of her experiences from covering Labour beat for the past 10 years.
According to ljasan, looking at the theme of the lecture, you would realise that the future of work is going towards the digital economy.
“Right now as we speak, we have a lot of cinematographers, skit makers, among others.We have people that do work from home.
“They spend a lot of money to ensure that this work is successful and also make money while they work from their homes.
“But imagine if you are in a typical office, the company is the one that is responsible for your welfare, your safety, and so many other things.
“So this is just to say that the informal work is here, it has come to stay, especially after the advent of COVID-19 pandemic and it is obvious that relevant stakeholders have yet to accept this,”she said.
She however, noted that the previous Labour leaders and the founding fathers of industrial relations in Nigeria have fought hard to ensure that there was voice for the working people.
She added that this group of people have fought for the minimum wage, health insurance, welfare among others for workers in the country.
“But right now we have many people that are retiring in the system. We have younger people coming into the system. What is the protection for them?
“If many of the work that the young people are doing right now is centered towards the digital economy. What is the structure to to ensure that the younger workers rights are being protected.
“Who is taking care of their shelter, if they have an accident, who is taking care of their health issue, there is nobody, rather it should be the institutions, they are designed to capture these,”she said.
Also, Mr Joe Ajaero, President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said that the new dispensation of AI ( Artificial Intelligence) would greatly affect the Future of the World of Work.
According to him, majority of the jobs we have in Nigeria are the informal jobs.
“They are not categorise under the private sector or the public sector because they are informal.
“These include the okada riders, barbars, hairdressers, who are over a million, among others and more of these jobs are being created in these areas and how are going to protected.
“I hope that this book will expose these issued in the context of the law, while commending the author for a job well done.
He however noted that the issues of tripartite in Nigeria had been eroded as the government doubles an employer and regulator.
Mr Ayuba Wabba, former president of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said that tripartite which include the government, labour and employers should collaboration in sourcing for solutions that would address the informal sector.
