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AGE DISCRIMINATION BY EMPLOYERS OF LABOUR; REPS SEEK REVERSAL OF TREND

AGE DISCRIMINATION BY EMPLOYERS OF LABOUR; REPS SEEK REVERSAL OF TREND
The House of Representatives has urged the Ministry of Labour and Productivity to reverse policy that encourages age discrimination by employers of labour both in the public and private sectors; Members agreed that the House Committee on Legislative Compliance should ensure strict compliance to the resolution of the Chamber. The matter which was introduced as motion of urgent public importance by Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas during plenary on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. He cautioned that it does not serve any social justice in a developing country like Nigeria to deny a large proportion of its workforce jobs simply on the ground that they did not meet the age requirements for employment.

He stated that the conditions for age discrimination have not been met when the Government has failed to provide basic services and amenities for the youths to stand a chance in such circumstances. Also, government organizations should avoid being in the frontline of the chief campaigners for such inhuman policy. He averred that some factors such as protracted strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has made it extremely difficult for graduates to leave school in record time, therefore it would amount to a great injustice if the youths are not offered same opportunity to gain meaningful employment as their counterparts who had acquired education abroad.

The House also kicked against extortion of money from prospective job applicants, describing such actions as illegal and inhuman. Making reference to the recruitment exercise conducted by the Nigerian Peace Corps, where applicants were asked to pay a sum of N1, 500 for the recruitment forms, the Minority Whip, Hon. Yakubu Umar Barde charged the Committee on Interior to move quickly to protect vulnerable applicants and put a stop to the illegality. He informed that the Peace Corps in question has not yet been established by an Act of parliament, which begs the question, “why are they even recruiting and who authorized the recruitment exercise”?

While demanding immediate refund of the money collected from people by the illegal and fraudulent organizations, lawmakers including the Deputy Speaker of the House condemned the act and copiously made it clear that it is wrong for any Federal Government Agency to receive money from applicants during recruitment exercises. 

Meanwhile, 49 Bills were passed for first reading during Wednesday's plenary as the Federal Capital Territory Appropriation Bill, 2016, was read the third time and passed by the House. Other Bills that scaled second reading on the floor of the chamber include "Bill for an Act to establish the Nigerian Immigration Border Patrol Agents as a specialized directorate in the immigration service to patrol, maintain surveillance, conduct borderline watch and prevent persons from entering or leaving Nigeria without permission", 

Standing in the name of Hon. Afe Olowookere was a Bill that was passed and referred to the Ad hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution, which seeks to alter section 162, in order to abrogate the State Joint Local Government Account. 

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