adminAbel Zhakata in Nyanga
The same labour problems that haunted Africa four decades ago are still troubling the continent today, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche has said. Addressing African labour ministers at the launch of the Africa Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) handbook in Nyanga yesterday, Minister Goche said the continent was still facing high levels of unemployment, dangerous working conditions and poor industrial relations.
In a speech read on his behalf by the Nigerian Federal Minister of Labour and Productivity Mr Emeka Wogucon, Minister Goche, who is the ARLAC chairperson, said the centre had made significant strides to address labour sector anomalies.
The launch of “The ARLAC Handbook” was held concurrently with the centre’s ruby anniversary celebrations.
Labour ministers and their permanent secretaries from across Africa attended the occasion.
“When the UNDP as the financier and the ILO as the executing agency created the ARLAC project, history informs us that the two organisations had identified the need for strengthening the capabilities of labour administration systems in Africa.
“In the short courses on labour administration they later conducted in the early sixties, the two organisations intended to address growing unemployment, underemployment, lack of skilled manpower, lack of clear and progressive wages and income policies, poor industrial relations, inadequate protection from work environments, absence of comprehensive social security schemes and a host of other social ills.”
Online Reporter