Nigeria workers have joined the rest of the world to mark the 2016 World Day for Safety and Health at Workplace with the International Labour Organization (ILO) calling on the federal government to improve the safety of workers.
For 13 years, Nigerian workers have continued to celebrate the World Day for Safety and Health at Work Place and the theme for 2016 was “Workplace Stress; A Collective Challenge”
The country representative of the ILO in Nigeria, Mr Dennis Zulu, at an event to mark the day on Thursday, said that the domestication of the ILO’s convention 155 on occupational safety would reduce accidents in work place.
Representative of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ms Maureen Ekuazi, argued that lack of social infrastructure has added to the stress of Nigerian workers.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, gave the assurance of government’s commitment to ensure the safety of workers.
He called on employers of labour to implement stress prevention programmes in line with national safety policies.
Although there is no reliable data on occupational accidents and deaths in Nigeria, it is estimated that globally, over 270 million accidents and 160 million deaths occur in workplaces annually.
This figure is inclusive of the few reported cases in Nigeria.
