Nigeria’s Senate is working on a bill to stop the casualisation of Nigerian graduates.

The ‘prohibition of casualisation bill 2020’ was sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, Ondo Central) during Thursday’s plenary.

Mr. Akinyelure said the issue of employing graduates as casual workers raised a concern, as “more workers continue to groan under this immoral strategy of cutting costs by employers rendering them inferior to their counterparts in other countries of the world.”

Maintaining that the oil and gas, steel, banking, telecommunication, mining, and insurance sectors engage graduates in casual jobs, he said graduates were treated as second-class citizens in Nigeria.

He lamented that foreigners in underdeveloped nations with lower qualifications were placed in higher positions than Nigerian graduates in private and public establishments. 

“Nigerian graduates are treated as second-class citizens in their own country while foreigners from underdeveloped countries from Asia; Indians, Pakistanis, Lebanese are placed as managers above Nigerian graduates in many private and even government establishments in Nigeria.

Citing the banking industry as an instance, the senator said young female graduates were employed as marketers, given “unrealistic” targets, and fired when not met.

“The female among them who are desperate in keeping their jobs turned to harlotry and sex slavery, moving from one office to the other looking for invisible customers who had a stash of fund to enable them to meet their targets Mr. President, it is high time this evil and devilish act is stopped,” he added. 

Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South) supported Mr. Akinyelure, stating, “Our girls have been turned into what we cannot imagine. Most of them have been asked to look for funds, and when they come to me, I always tell them, I do not even have the funds to eat, not to talk of keeping in the banks.” 

On his part, Senator Ajibola Basiru (APC, Osun Central) citing employers’ power to hire and fire, said the National Assembly “must make a distinction in making the prohibition between employment in the public sector and employment in the private sector.”

Seconding the bill, a senator representing Osun West Senatorial District, Adelere Oriolowo, suggested abolishing employment inequality.

In his remarks, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said, “If we say no casualisation at all, some of our people could be victims of layoffs, and, of course, we know what casualisation brings. You don’t have any entitlements outside of what you’re given immediately.”

After scaling the second reading, the bill was referred to the Committee on Employment, Labour, and Productivity and to report back within four weeks.