FCSC Chairman tasks NASS on enactment of pending Labour Bills

The Chairman of Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof Tunji Olaopa, has called on the National Assembly to urgently enact all pending Labour Bills, adding that it would strengthen the institution of social dialogue and alternative disputes resolution mechanism in Nigeria.

Olaopa stated that federal government needs to urgently convene a no-holds barred platform for national conversation where all the parties in industrial relations system could reach agreement on how they could work together to make the Nigerian social model work.

The FCSC Chairman gave this charge on Tuesday at the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) Second Annual National Labour Adjudication Forum Held at the Abuja.

He added “The National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) should be strengthened to accommodate larger stakeholders. Indeed, there is urgent need to transform the NLAC into the National Labour Council that will involve diverse stakeholders in the management of labour issues as done by the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NDELAC) in South Africa which is deeply involved in all labour and socio-economic policy formulation and implementation in that country

“The present mandate of the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) should be expanded to include capacity building of stakeholders and facilitation of research in dispute management and resolution”.

Olaopa restated that there was need for shift from adversarial to a developmental industrial relations practices in Nigeria

He identified lack of political sophistication to unravel the legal, structural and systemic issues that have hindered unfettered implementation and enforcement of relevant labour laws in Nigeria as a road block to consensus building in industrial Relations.