ILO elects Nigeria as regular member of Governing Board

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has elected Nigeria as an ordinary member of its Governing Body.

The ILO has 187 member states: 186 of the 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands.

Mr Charles Akpan, deputy director of press and public relations at the Ministry of Labor and Employment, said this in a statement issued Tuesday in Abuja.

Akpan said the election took place on June 14, during the ongoing 109th virtual session of the ILO conference in Geneva.

He said Nigeria was elected to the organization’s supreme governing body alongside other African countries – Cameroon, Eswatini (commonly known as Swaziland), Morocco, Rwanda and Uganda, during a hotly contested election.

“Nigeria will serve until 2024,” Akpan said.

He added that Nigeria had also been deputy or titular from June 2017, from where she was elected Chair of the ILO Governing Body in 2019.

According to Akpan, this is the 11th time that Nigeria has been elected for quality representation of the African region at the ILO.

“In this new position, Nigeria will be able to chair various sessions and committees of the Board of Directors, oversee the adoption of decisions generally by consensus, as well as changes to the minutes and records of proceedings,”

“Others are the adoption of reports of various committees, including reports of regional meetings and other sectoral meetings of the ILO.

“The country will also meet with ILO Director-General Guy Ryder before each session of the Governing Body to discuss issues related to the region and propose the way forward.

“This ensures an accelerated flow of technical assistance and support from the ILO, including training and capacity building opportunities, appointment to global forums, technical meetings and ILO supervisory bodies,” he declared.

Akpan recalled that as an MP, Nigeria was appointed chair of the entire government group of the ILO and held this post from June 2019 to 2020.

He added that during the difficult containment of COVID-19, Nigeria was able to coordinate the affairs of the government group under the chairmanship of the Minister of Labor and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.

He said the minister has successfully passed the baton to the new co-chairs, Panama and Chile.

“Nigeria has, through its leadership and parliamentary experience, successfully represented the African region by lobbying and passing amendments to the regional ILO rules for meetings.

“The adoption of the amendments removed the ambiguity on the composition of the participants from the Member States in the regional meetings.

“This is a rare achievement that was not envisioned in the next century, as the colonial influence over some African member states allowed the colonial masters to intervene, especially in the regional meetings of Africa. Akpan said. (NAN)

(NAN)