LABOUR ACT ; WOMAN BEATEN BY LEBANESE BOSS

The news about a pregnant Nigerian casual worker Mrs. Alice Ossai at Toppan Packaging Company Limited Ikeja, Lagos who was beaten up by her Lebanese boss Kaveh Noine was a rude shock to me, who does that and get a away with it,  how can anyone think of beating a pregnant woman so bad that she lost her seven months old pregnancy .

It is no longer news that Lebanese come to Nigeria employ our citizens and short pay them and no one question this because those in authority does not care about what happens to us, and most people are left with little or no choice than to take the job based on the level of unemployment in the country.

A lot of people have been injured by  heavy machines in the cause of carrying  out their duties and never compensated, how long do we want to continue like this when there is a law enacted for this purpose.

Mr. Kaveh has violated the provision of the Labour Law Act cap 198. Law of the Federation 1990.

Section 46 of this act provides that any employer who neglects or ill-treats any worker whom he has contracted to employ in accordance with this part of this act shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for one year or both.

In as much as Nigeria welcome foreign participation in formation of company, it will not allow them to violate its laws, here Kaveh Noine if found guilty of this allegation and convicted may face imprisonment and deportation.

We shall be discussing what the labour act say about women in employment, section 54 of the labour act provide for maternity protection and woman in public or private industries shall have the right to leave her work if she produces a medical certificate given by a registered medial practitioner lp=-00stating that her confinement will probably take place within six weeks.

No woman shall be employed on night duty in any private or public industries, how true is this? In Nigeria today women are employed in factories to do night work and no one questions their employer. We make laws but never implement them in Nigeria and that is why our citizens are been maltreated and short paid .

Thank you.

Oyenike Alliyu-Adebiyi LLB(hons)BL