Written by Asmau Ahmad with Agency Report
Abuja, Dec. 2, 2014. The Supervising Minister of Labour and Productivity, Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, said on Tuesday that the Federal Government would continue to uphold the rights and dignity of all Nigerian workers, irrespective of their HIV status. Turaki said this in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by Mr Samuel Olowookere, the Deputy Director (Press), in the ministry. The minister said this when he presented the revised National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS in Nigeria to social partners in the labour sector and civil society organisations.
He said that the fundamental rights at work were at the heart of the revised policy, drawing from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).Turaki also said that HIV and AIDS constituted one of the most serious health and socio-economic challenges confronting the Nigerian society.
“It becomes worrisome when the segment of the population mostly affected are youths and the middle aged within productive age, majority of whom constitute the nation’s workforce.’’He said that the first National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS was developed by the Labour Ministry in 2005 in collaboration with the ILO and social partners.
Turaki identified the partnes as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the .Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN) and stakeholders such as Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS.He said that a decent work was central to people’s well-being, adding that the policy lays the foundation for a more gender sensitive HIV and AIDS’ response in the workplace.
The minister said that the participation of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV and AIDS would bring about effective implementation of the National Policy and the National Action Plan, respectively.
