The Federal Government on Wednesday in Abuja urged the Organisation of Trade Union of West Africa (OTUWA) to lead the campaign for the diversification of the economy of the ECOWAS sub-region.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, made the call when he declared open a three-day workshop of OTUWA.
Ngige said the diversification of the economy of the ECOWAS sub-region was imperative because of the adverse effects of the global economic downturn.
He said the mono-economic bases of West African countries were largely responsible for their current economic woes.
“ There is a big threat to the economy of the ECOWAS sub-region because of our largely mono-economic base.
“I am happy that your organisation has been able to live down its challenges.
“ The revived OTUWA must, therefore, help the governments and employers in the sub-region to look elsewhere.
“In Nigeria, we must look for other sources of revenue and the most easily identifiable one is agriculture and of course, mining.
“We are also diversifying in trade and services. And because of the availability of fertile land in West Africa, the same thing goes to sister countries.
“OTUWA, which is our regional component of the World Union of Trade Unions, must, hence, lead this campaign for the diversification of the West African economy, ” the minister said.
Ngige called on the union to help the governments in the region develop the requisite skills for the full maximization of the utility of their cash crops.
He said this would enhance local processing of the raw forms into finished products.
He urged the workshop to be the starting point of this line of thought by getting the people to move from the area of white collar jobs to blue collar jobs in agriculture and mining.
Ngige urged OTUWA to be “ the catalysts in entrenching decent work environment in line with the ILO Convention which all are signatory to.”
Earlier, the President of OTUWA, Mr Mademba Sock, listed challenges facing labour in the sub-region and said the organisation was revived to fight the cause of the workers.
Also, Mr Dennis Zulu, ILO Country Director in Nigeria, said ILO had asked member states to organise national dialogues to come up with suggestions that would be useful for its development initiatives .
Zulu said that the initiatives would focus on work and society, decent jobs, the orgnisation of work and production as well as governance of work.
He called on social partners in the respective countries to contribute to the ILO Future of Work Initiative. (NAN)