Press spotlights Nigeria’s collaboration with ILO on trade test certifications, others

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
The report that the International Labour will be engaging the Nigerian government, workers’ unions and social partners on how migrants can get trade test certifications to enable them to get jobs easily when they travel overseas is one of the trending stories in Nigerian newspapers on Wednesday.
The Punch reports that the International Labour has said it would be engaging the Nigerian government, workers’ unions and social partners on how migrants can get trade test certifications to enable them to get jobs easily when they travel overseas.
This was disclosed by the ILO Project Coordinator, Celestine Okeke, during a communication and visibility programme in Lagos, on how migrants could easily reintegrate into society and gain employment.
According to him, the trade test, which is recognised globally for skill certification, is important to help migrants gain jobs whenever they travel.
Okeke said, “When a person migrates out of the country safely, he can find a job. It is when he finds a job that he can contribute to the economy of the country he is going to and returning to.”
He recommended that Nigerians interested in migrating should utilise the Migration Resource Centre (MRC) to obtain accurate information about the necessary skills required in their destination country.
He said, “During irregular routines, it is common to find people without formal education or degrees migrating for work. However, even those with degrees often struggle to adapt to foreign work systems. Possession of a trade test certificate can facilitate obtaining jobs overseas, even for those with limited education.”
The newspaper says that the Nigerian Government will increase excise tax on tobacco products from 30 per cent ad-valorem to 50 per cent as part of measures to control tobacco smoking in the country.
Head, Tobacco Control Unit, Noncommunicable Disease Division, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Mangai Malau, disclosed this on Tuesday at the National Tobacco Control Budget Advocates Meeting in Abuja.
Malau presented a paper titled “Overview of Tobacco Control Funding/Budgeting in Nigeria: Why Tobacco Control Budgeting and Funding?
He said that presently, the Federal Government imposed a 30 per cent tax on tobacco products but its target was to increase to 50 per cent in order to meet the World Health Organization standard.
According to him, funding for tobacco control must come majorly from taxation and there is also a need for relevant stakeholders to apply tax measures rightly if they are to address the issues of tobacco control in the country.
“In effectively controlling tobacco and tobacco products in Nigeria, funding is a critical component. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control recognises this and clearly stipulates in Article 26.
“It states that parties shall provide financial support in respect of its national activities intended to achieve the objective of the Convention, in accordance with its national plans, priorities and programmes.
“It is also important to state that funding is a major provision of the National Tobacco Control Act.
“Section eight of the Act, provides for the Tobacco Control Fund, which shall be used to fund tobacco control activities programmes and projects,” Malau said.
According to him, this meeting is therefore important as it will seek for better funding for tobacco control, in order for Nigeria to meet the objectives of the WHO FCTC and the NTC Act.
The Guardian reports that the President of the Lagos Chamber Of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Michael Olawale-Cole, has urged the incoming government to focus on tackling the many salient economic issues the country is grappling with presently and make the most of the opportunity given to it by the Nigerian people to serve.
Speaking on the state of the economy in the first quarter of the year, at the Commerce House in Lagos, Olawale-Cole said the global economy has shown some positive signs in the first quarter of this year, as inflation and energy prices eased from their peak levels, especially as China ended its zero-COVID policy, which is expected to provide some growth impulses.
He added that the escalation of the war in Ukraine remains a major source of vulnerability, particularly for lower-income countries like Nigeria, and another range of triggers could spark further deterioration in risk sentiment with adverse growth implications, especially given high levels of public and private debts. “These triggers include geopolitical fragmentation, sudden financial market repricing, inflation persisting and China’s recovery stalling. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its world economic outlook update for January 2023, projects that global growth will slow to 2.9 per cent in 2023 from 3.4 per cent in 2022.
“In most economies, amid the cost of living crisis, priorities remain achieving sustained disinflation and reasonable real growth with tighter monetary conditions and lower growth, potentially affecting financial and debt stability. Also, sentiment indicators, such as Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMIs) have been signaling a sharp slowdown for months and an array of consumer and business confidence indicators have given similar signals.
Olawale-Cole added that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.52 per cent (year-on-year) in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 2.25 per cent recorded in the previous quarter and 3.98 per cent in the corresponding period in 2021.
The newspaper says that the abduction of 276 female students from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, in 2014 brought the plight of children in Northeast Nigeria to the forefront of international attention.
The Chibok girls became a symbol of the conflict’s devastating impact on children in particular girls, and their continued captivity nine years later is a reminder that the crisis is far from over.
On the ninth anniversary of the abduction, the world is once again reminded of the devastating impact of the ongoing armed conflict in Northeast Nigeria on children.
96 Chibok girls remain in captivity, as well as a significant number of children abducted by non-state armed groups, notably, Boko Haram and Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP). As a global community, we cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of these children. We demand their unconditional release.
The conflict in Northeast Nigeria has been ongoing since 2009, resulting in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The crisis has worsened over the years and the impact of the conflict on children’s lives cannot be overstated.
The crisis has left many children exposed to violence and atrocities. Thousands of children have been abducted, with some being forced into marriage, while others have been used as suicide bombers. The displacement of over 2.5 million people, including more than one million children, who have been forced to flee their homes in search of safety, is a grave concern.
The increasing attacks on schools in Northeast Nigeria by various armed groups are a troubling trend that has denied the right of 1.15 million children to education. According to the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria, attacks on schools forced over 1,500 schools to close, destroyed 910 institutions and displaced over 19,000 teachers between 2009 and 2022. The attacks claimed the lives of more than 2,295 teachers.
We urge an end to attacks on schools, which violate children’s right to education. The loss of access to education has serious consequences on the future of children in Northeast Nigeria. Many children have been out of school for years, leading to a lost generation that lacks basic literacy and numeracy skills.
The conflict has also had an economic impact, with the loss of livelihoods resulting in poverty and inequality.
GIK/APA