Bill To Protect Domestic Workers Passes Second Reading

Senate has passed for second reading, a bill seeking for the documentation and protection of domestic workers and their employers in Nigeria.

The passage of the bill sponsored by Senator Hussaini Babangida Uba (APC Jigawa North West) followed lead debate made on it by him and contributions made by some other senators.
Hussaini in his lead debate said intendment of the bill which was first read on the floor of the Senate on November 21, 2023, was to regulate the relationship between employees and employers in the informal sector .

He said over the years, there has been an increase in the incidents of assaults and abuse of domestic workers by their employers or hosts which range from slave labour, physical abuse and sexual abuse among others.

He added that on the other side of the coin, is the rise in the state of complicity of crimes committed by domestic workers mostly in connivance with other criminal elements in the society against their employers or host which according to him, range from burglary , to kidnapping , stealing of children and sometimes, outright murder .

The bill, he explained further, does not seek to protect the domestic workers but also protect employers of domestic workers.

According to him, in the light of composite security challenges we face today, as a nation, it is therefore imperative and critical for the National Assembly to urgently assist the law enforcement agencies with potent law the legislation seeks to put in place .

” The bill will also reduce and deter the propensity of domestic worker’s connivance with criminal elements against their employers, by maintaining full biometric data and other relevant background information of domestic workers nationwide.

” It will also help to keep track of migration of domestic workers from other countries, from state to state and from one employer to another employer for security purposes,” he added.

He said Nigeria was yet to have codified legislation that provides for the right of domestic workers as well as protection of their employers.

The bill, which received support of lawmakers was referred to committee on labour and productivity for further legislative inputs by president of senate, Godswill Akpabio after it scaled second reading.

The committee is expected to submit reports on the bill within the next four weeks.