Editorial
Criminalising Casualisation, Job Outsourcing
The fact about the alarming data released by the organised private sector unions indicating that over 70 per cent of Nigeria’s workforce in the private sector is casualised is no longer news. Casualisation is the practice of employing temporary staff for short periods rather than make them permanent staff. Unfortunately, this phenomenon, aimed at saving costs, is gradually creeping into the public sector.
Under the arrangement, the worker is not entitled to any perks such as transportation, leave, medical allowances or special benefits package. Besides, the worker’s take-home pay is so miserable that it can hardly take him/her home. To make matters worse, the typical casual worker gets a miserable N500 per day.
But then, casualisation is thriving because of the high rate of unemployment, even though it contravenes Section 7 (1) of the Labour Act, Cap 198, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1990. The Act provides that, “Not later than three months after the beginning of a worker\’s period of employment with an employer, the employer shall give to the worker a written statement specifying the terms and conditions of employment, which include the nature of the employment and if the contract is for a fixed term, the date when the contract expires.”
As if to boost the Labour Act, Section 17(a) of the 1999 Constitution condemns casualisation because it is at variance with its provisions, which guarantees equal pay for equal work. Furthermore, Convention 153 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which Nigeria is a signatory, does not support any form of discrimination in the workplace.
In fact, the section holds that casualisation is out of tune with 21st Century best practices. Hence, the discrimination in pay between permanent and casual employees should not exist. Besides, the section frowns against discrimination on account of sex or any grounds whatsoever.
But casualisation is growing at a worrisome rate as available statistics show that preponderance of casual workers is in the telecommunications, oil and gas, banking, insurance, mining and steel sectors. To put it in proper perspective, available statistics shows that about 70 per cent of workers in most of these companies are on casual fringes. Sadly, outsourcing is also used interchangeably with casualisation in all these sectors as a ploy to avoid regularising their employment.
More disturbing is that expatriate companies, mainly those owned by Chinese and Indians, are the worst culprits. Nigeria is a haven for their illicit and inhuman ventures. But can they succeed without connivance with unpatriotic, highly-placed Nigerians? The answer is no.
There is no gain emphasising the fact that Nigerian workers, through the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), have been battling unrelentingly to eradicate casualisation, but the desired result is yet to be achieved. Therefore, a legislation to end casualisation becomes necessary and urgent.
It is against this backdrop that The Tide welcomes the recent move by the House of Representatives to criminalise employing workers on casual contracts beyond six months and the prohibition of outsourcing of jobs to third parties, while any casual workers sacked by an employer after six months will be entitled to the benefits of full-time workers for six months, being proposed in the Labour Act (Amendment) Bill 2019 awaiting second reading by the House.
According to the proposals, the amendment to Section 8 of the Principal Act would now read, “(1) Every worker in Nigeria engaged or employed by and has remained in such employment for a period of not less than six months shall have his employment or engagement regularised by the employer as a full and permanent worker of such employer with all its accompanying entitlements.”
The new Section 9 of the principal Act will now read, “(1) Notwithstanding Section 25 of this Act, an employer, who has obtained the Minister’s licence, employment outsourcing by such employers within its core aims and objectives of operation is hereby prohibited. It is an offence for an employer to pay another person, whether corporate or natural person, for services rendered to it by its worker.”
Recently, the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights in Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation, heightened fears that the situation would worsen as employers prefer to outsource staff.
We, therefore, see the proposed law which states that failure by any employer to comply with Subsections 1 and 2 will constitute an offence, which will attract a two-year sentence, N2 million fine or both as concrete efforts towards protecting workers in the country.
Although the rapid increase in both the casualisation and outsourcing trends is attributed to the global economic and employment crises that have continued to threaten the future of developing economies such as Nigeria, its continuing practice remains a serious challenge to the nation.
We are not oblivious of the characteristics of casualisation in concrete terms; the act forbids the employment of workers beyond three months without employment letter detailing the conditions of service, among other provisions of the act. But in all sectors of the Nigerian economy, this law is only obeyed in the breach by employers with impunity and without qualms. In both public and private sectors, what is known as precarious or casual worker is the trend.
While we also appreciate move by the Senate to stem the tide, we believe that the situation requires a more desperate intervention. Casualisation is a modern-day slavery. To associate our economy with it will continue to diminish high profile rating that Nigeria expects among the comity of nations. Therefore, nothing less than speedy passage of the amendment bill is expected.
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
