he Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the amendment of Nigerian labour laws to bring them to the standards of international laws and statutes.
The approval followed two memoranda presented to the council by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, who noted that the labour laws of the country, as presently being operated, are obsolete laws.
Briefing correspondents after the council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ngige explained that the International Labour Organization (ILO) had pointed that out that Nigeria needed to bring its laws to be concurrent with international labour standards and conventions and principles at work.
He gave a history of the effort to achieve it saying: “So, we had to do this. It is the long journey, we started in 2001 by a previous administration, and at a point, the bills were sent to the National Assembly for enactment into law in 2007/2008 only one came out after the five bills.
“Among the five bills then was Labour Standards Bill which will make for Labour Standard and replace the the Trade Union Act 2004.
“The second was what we call the Collective Labour Relations Bill, which will encompass a portion of the Trade Union Act, Trade Disputes Act 2004, Trade Dispute Essential Services Act and of course, the Trade Unions International Affiliations Act. So, the four were to be now melted into one law.
