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MAY DAY-NIGERIA: Pity the Victims of Workplace Accidents

Sam Olukoya

LAGOS, May 1 2004 (IPS) - Life on the job in Nigeria can be tough. But, it becomes even harder for those who have the misfortune to sustain injuries in the workplace.

Daniel Adoga used to operate a grinding machine in a plastic factory, something which cost him his right hand.

"I was on night duty that day. We were putting rubber in the machine, and suddenly it caught my hand. Before I knew it, it had started cutting my hand. That was how it happened that day," he recalls.

A slippery floor was all it took to change Friday Amuta’s life irrevocably. At the time, Amuta was working at an engineering factory on the outskirts of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

"One day, I slipped and fell, smashing my penis and testicles against a sharp object. I started bleeding profusely," he says.

Amuta was hospitalized for a year at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital where he underwent three operations. At the end of it all, however, he still found himself impotent – and ultimately without a wife.

"Even as I am today…I know I have lost something from my body. It would have been better (if it had happened) when I was a little boy. My father gave birth to me to give birth to other ones. But today I cannot."

Nigeria’s government makes no provision for employees who become disabled on the job. Employers are expected to bear the cost of treating injured workers, something that could take the form of a lump sum calculated on the basis of the employee’s salary.

But, this payment can be pitifully small. As compensation for his injuries, Amuta’s employers paid him about 150 dollars.

As a result, many injured workers find themselves in dire straits.

"I am a family man with a wife and children. I go through considerable difficulties feeding my family. I have to use one hand to farm in an effort to feed my family," says Adoga.

The situation takes on even more alarming proportions in the case of casual workers, who have virtually no claim on their employers.

"The Nigerian labour law does not recognize the casual status," says Elder Linus Ukamba, Secretary General of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), an umbrella body for trade unions.

"Therefore, all that is in the law to protect wages, to protect employment, does not cover the casual…Even (the) Workmen’s Compensation Act for those who have accidents does not cover a casual, because the Workmen’s Compensation Act talks of workers, not of casuals," he adds.

The law requires firms to register – or ‘regularize’ – casual workers within three months of employing them. But many perpetually keep workers on a casual basis by engaging them and terminating their employment after three months – then employing them again for another three months. For some employees this cycle continues for a decade or more.

The NLC says the use of casual staff is so pervasive that in some sectors – such as the metal and steel industries, and construction companies – as many as 70 percent of the staff are casual workers.

Common workplace injuries include the loss of arms and fingers, although a number of lives have also been claimed.

"The injury rate is very high," notes Ukamba, who says most industrial accidents occur while the victims are operating machines. However, he says it is difficult to give accurate statistics on the matter because employers have not been complying with the requirement to report industrial accidents to the Ministry of Labour.

"The inspectorate division of the Labour Ministry, which is supposed to ensure that employers report industrial accidents among their workers, is not adequately funded and staffed to enforce compliance. Employers have been taking advantage of these lapses in the ministry to flout the law," observes Ukamba.

He says this has also created a situation where companies are able to cut corners when it comes maintaining safety standards.

"There are less than 100 factory inspectors in the whole of Nigeria. Even then, most of them sit in the office rather than working in the field because they are poorly equipped. They don’t have vehicles and other tools to carry out inspection."

Ukamba adds, "The union is talking with the senate committee on labour so that the Labour Ministry can get more funding in order to be able to carry out its responsibilities."

According to Adoga, the machine that cut off his hand had injured several other workers in the past. "We told the factory owners that the machine is dangerous, but they did not take any action. The machine is still there ’til today."

When contacted by IPS, the Ministry of Labour was not immediately able to provide figures for workplace injuries. However, Information Officer Emma Okpara confirmed that companies appeared to be less than forthcoming when it came to reporting accidents.

"Most often, the employers are afraid to report to us. So most times, it is the workers that report cases of industrial accidents to us," he said.

However, Okapara denied that the ministry was falling short in monitoring workplace safety, saying the department had offices across Nigeria which did so effectively.

"The local offices file reports weekly to the headquarters. They also hold month dialogue with employers," he told IPS.

For its part, the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association – an umbrella body for employers – says it has been holding talks with the NLC on safety standards and other issues for about two years, with a view to reducing accidents and improving the general welfare of workers.

While these and other issues have probably received attention on International Labour Day (May 1), the uncomfortable truth of the matter is that high rates of unemployment in Nigeria have created a situation where workers have less bargaining power than they should when it comes to ensuring their rights.

The Ministry of Labour does not have figures about joblessness on hand. But, Okpara told IPS that unemployment had forced many Nigerians into the casual labour market.

"There is a high turnover of manpower, but there are not enough openings to absorb them," he said.

 
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