Practical Approach for Implementation of the Revised National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health 2020 in the Informal Sector: A Focus on South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract The regulation of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Nigeria, which is currently seeing some progress in the formal sector, has been short of impressive in the informal sector of the economy. Con- sidering it is the role of every government to ensure that all sectors of the economy operate in a manner that guarantees and ensures the safety and well-being of its citizens, Article 4 of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 155- Occupational Safety and Health Convention was ratified by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) in 1994, which led to the development of a coherent National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health in 2006. This, inter alia, failed to address the informal sector; hence the Revised National Policy on OSH 2020 was introduced by the Govern- ment, through the office of the Honorable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, as a framework for bridging the existing gap. In a bid to ensure the success of the Policy document, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment was designated the Competent Authority by the Government. This paper takes a look at the stakeholders in the informal sector of the economy, focusing on the south- south part of Nigeria, and identifies some of the challenges hampering the effective implementation of Occupational Safety and Health systems needed for the promotion of safety and health at workplaces. It concludes by providing a practical tool that can be a guide for the policy users, especially in the in- formal sector of the Nigerian economy, in alignment with the second of the three determinants of the future of energy, as captured in the theme for NAICE 2021: "The Future of energy – a trilogy of de- terminants; Climate Change, Public Health, and the Global Oil Market".