NIGERIA has been elected as a regular member of Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a statement from the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Tuesday has revealed.
The statement signed by Charles Akpan, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, stated that Nigeria was elected on Monday, June 14, 2021 into the Governing Body, which is the highest organ of the ILO, alongside other African countries – Cameroon, Eswatini (Swaziland), Morocco, Rwanda and Uganda, in a keenly contested election.
According to Akpan, Nigeria, which had previously served as deputy or titular from June 2017, from where she was elected the chair of the Governing Body of the ILO in 2019, will serve in the organ till 2024. He said this is the 11th time that Nigeria is elected for quality representation of the African Region at the ILO.
“In this new position, Nigeria will be able to chair various Governing Board sessions and committees, oversee adoption of decisions usually by consensus, as well as amendments of minutes and records of proceedings,
“Others are adoption of reports of various committees, including the reports of regional meetings and other ILO sectorial meetings.
“The country will also be meeting with the ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, prior to each Governing Board session to discuss matters related to the region and proffer way forward.
“This assures of accelerated flow of technical assistance and support by the ILO, including training and capacity building opportunities, nomination into global fora, technical meetings and supervisory organs of the ILO,” the statement further clarified.
Akpan recalled that while serving as deputy, Nigeria was nominated as the chair of the entire Government Group of the ILO and held the position from June 2019 to 2020. He added that during the difficult Covid-19 lockdown, Nigeria was able to coordinate the affairs of the Government Group under the chairperson of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige. He said that the minister successfully handed over to new co-chairs, Panama and Chile.
“Nigeria has, through her leadership and parliamentary experience, successfully represented the African region in pressing and pushing through amendments of ILO regional rules for meetings. The adoption of the amendments cleared the ambiguity on composition of participants of member states at regional meetings. This was a rare achievement that was not envisaged in the nearest century as colonial influence on some African member states permitted colonial masters to interfere, particularly in Africa’s regional meetings,” Akpan said.
