14 October 2014 (Lagos) - The growing concern over the large number of migrant workers in Nigeria and Nigerian citizens living abroad has necessitated the need for the establishment of effective mechanisms for the protection of migrant workers. Governments in most countries around the world are making efforts to enact and implement legislations to promote human rights and offer protection to those living and working within their territorial boundaries in line with global best practices.

Against this background, the Federal Government of Nigeria in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will be conducting a national training on the protection of migrant workers in Lagos State from 14 to 15 October 2014. The training is funded by the European Union under the 10th EDF project “Promoting Better Management of Migration in Nigeria” and implemented by IOM and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Participants at this training will be Labour Officials of Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity (FMLP) offices in the South-West geopolitical zone of the country (Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo states). It is expected that the training will contribute to enhancing the capacity of Labour Inspectors of FMLP in developing concrete action points for the protection of migrant workers.

The training is one of the measures being taken to enhance the capacities of officials of the FMLP. The initiative commenced with the training of trainers held in Abuja on 18 – 20 September 2013 in the effective application of domestic legal framework for protection of migrant workers as well as build their capacity to conduct trainings for their colleagues in the ministry.

The project has already conducted training for the North Central geopolitical zone from 24 to 25 September 2014 in Keffi, Nassarawa State. Further trainings will also be conducted in the remaining four geo-political zones of the country in Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Imo and Zamfara states. Topics to be covered will include legal frameworks, protection mechanisms and policy options for countries of origin and destination for the protection of migrant workers. For questions or for more information, please contact IOM Nigeria at iomnigeria@iom.int or by phone at +234 814 067 1127.