WASHINGTON—THE Federal Government
has pleaded with the United States to lift its ban on the importation of
Nigeria’s crude, describing the action as antithetical to the flourish of trade
and economic cooperation upon which Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA,
was founded. obama-buhari-us The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator
Chris Nigige, who made the plea, also told the American government to
demonstrate stronger commitment to improve economic ties with African nations
through balanced trade relations. Senator Ngige made the plea at a Ministerial
Roundtable meeting on Africa Growth and Opportunity Act at the Department of
Labour Building, Washington D.C, United States. He said the stoppage of
Nigeria’s crude importation had led to low foreign exchange receipts and
consequent technical recession in some African countries. Ngige, who led
Nigeria’s delegation at the meeting to the round table, titled Trade and Worker
Rights: Inclusive Economic Growth in Africa Through Trade on the Day One of the
Roundtable, said the capacity of Nigeria to tackle anti-labour practices, such
as child labour, cheap labour and human trafficking, was being hampered by
dwindling resources, which the stoppage of the import of the Nigerian crude by
the US had accentuated. He said poverty at the low income levels made the fight
against anti-labour practices at the base difficult. He urged the US to assist
African countries in the entire agricultural value food chain of production,
processing and preservation as well as give increase educational assistance to
farmers. He said: “The founding ideal of AGOA is to foster a symbiotic economic
cooperation between Africa and the United States. However, the capacity of the
Africa nations such as Nigeria to effectively tap into the full potentials of
the body is being checkmated by limited resources. “There is need therefore for
America to rethink initiatives that once made AGOA attractive to African
countries. ‘’Rescinding her decision on Nigerian crude is one of such steps
that could be taken to buoy up our economy and regain enough capacity to
protect workers rights and promote decent work in an inclusive economic growth.
“The US must do more to assist junior partners by extending some labour
projects and technical aide being executed in some African countries such as
Madagascar, Zambia and Kenya to Nigeria.” Speaking further on Nigeria’s
initiatives for improving internationally recognized workers right, the
Minister said Nigeria had ratified and domesticated eight core conventions of the
International Labour Organization, ILO, dealing with child rights and fair
labour practices, drawing the attention of the international community to the
strong backing for fundamental freedoms and labour rights enshrined in the
constitution, especially in section 40. Earlier in his address of welcome, the
US Secretary of Labour, Tom Perez, pledged the commitment of the United States
to the growth of AGOA and urged African countries to strive towards the
recognition of workers rights as an essential element of inclusive economic
growth.
No comments:
Post a Comment