FG HARPS ON WORKPLACE SAFETY AS MINISTER INSPECTS FACTORIES IN LAGOS AND ON STATES 08-02-25
By Sadiq Aminu The Federal Government says it will do everything to ensure workplaces, especially factories are safe for every worker and employers adhere to best practices at all times.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Dr Nkeiruka Onyejeocha stated this when she inspected two multinational food production factories in Agbara, Ogun State and Ikeja, Lagos State.
The Minister said a safe work environment would improve productivity, and that safety included physical protection and care for mental well being of workers.
“We need to make sure that we remind them that we are still interested in the safety of our workers that Ministry of Labour and Employment cannot be reduced to conciliation, that we are interested in the welfare of our workers and we are interested in safe workplace where every worker is growing as the company is growing where their promotion is not being stagnated for any reason,” said Onyejeocha.
Speaking on the mental health of workers, the Minister urged the companies to “look inwards and make sure that the mental health of workers are taken into consideration.”
Dr Onyejeocha warned that the federal government would not hesitate to sanction any company in breach of safety regulations and practices and that the government was also interested in manufacturers’ compliance with ease of doing business right from their factories.
She manufacturing companies would not be allowed to “kill our people and say you will stay here and do business. We’ll seal the premises where we need to. Where we need to apply sanctions like penalties then we will apply. There are situations we can warn and there are situations we will apply the big stick to seal premises.”
The Minister commended the factories visited for efforts to make their production line safe for workers and to ensure women participation in the production process as safely as possible.
Dr Onyejeocha said the final reports on the inspection would be made available to the companies to help them improve where necessary.