The need for sustained media engagement to curb widespread abuse and exploitation of domestic workers in Nigeria has been emphasized by stakeholders.
This was made known at Media Consultative Meeting on the Domestic Workers’ Rights Campaign organised by CEE-HOPE, in collaboration with Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Zone D in Abuja.
Betty Abah, CEO of CEE-HOPE, stressed that media advocacy is crucial to protecting domestic workers’ rights.
“Media engagement should go beyond reporting cases; it should drive policy change and enforcement.
“Some people are harmed for life. Some have to undergo different abortions for the man of the house, the boy of the house, the uncles of the house.
She laments that victim cannot talk because they have no knowledge of their rights, who to report to.
“They share ignorance about their human and labor rights. So many things are going on. But this would have been prevented to a larger extent. Child domestic servitude, abuse of domestic workers could have been prevented if they had unions.
In Lagos, almost everybody has a union and one of the strongest in Lagos is pepper grinders union. So I guess about the only thing in Nigeria that doesn’t, about the only job in Nigeria that doesn’t have a union is domestic workers. And it’s very strange because Nigeria has the highest population in Africa.
“In Lagos, we have domestic workers who are as young as seven years, eight years. They are the first to wake up and the last to sleep.
“And they work around the clock and even those that are adults, there’s no specific time.
“But if there’s a union specifically for domestic workers, they have a specific time, nine to five. And if the time has clocked, they just take their bag and walk away. And then they have specific roles, tasks.
Chizoba Ogbeche, Vice President of NAWOJ, Zone D added that the media can help shift societal attitudes and ensure accountability.
“We need to make people understand. When we keep talking about it, we recognize that if it becomes a law, it’s one step, but enforcement is another step.
“But if we have a mind change, which is where the role of the media comes in because we disseminate information, we make people understand.
“She laments that women are mostly the perpetrators of inhuman treatment to domestic workers.
“There are very few men involved in it. Where the men come in is the issue of sexual abuse of these domestic workers, and most times they are enabled by women.
“Most cases have come to the fore, you find that the woman enables it because if you have a wife who says no, even if she’s not my daughter, you cannot molest her. You protect her. It will not happen.”
She urged participants to see themselves as a campaigner and advocate.
“It’s not just about a one-off training. We intend to continue this interaction so that if there are cases that you know about and probably you cannot pursue it, even if its not in Abuja, NAWOJ has chapters in the 36 states and FCT.
“Through NAWOJ, we can reach out to our members in that state to ensure that they see it through.”
