The Human Capital Providers Association of Nigeria (HuCaPAN) has urged members to take the opportunity of COVID-19 and work out progress in private sector.
HuCaPAN is an umbrella body of Private Employment Agencies in Nigeria.
President of the association, Mr Remi Adegboyega, gave the charge in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
He said that COVID-19 had undoubtedly taken toll on industry and had affected domestic and international businesses across countries and sectors.
He said COVID-19 had forced offices to close totally or partially, and impaired the ability to manage day-to-day services delivery for certain clients or certain sites which resulted among other things to huge losses of revenue.
He said that some of the members companies also experienced contract cancellation, downward contract review; inability of clients to fulfill obligations; and reduction of manpower.
According to him, government partially shut down, organisations shut workplaces, stores, and processing plants, while many companies resorted to digital facilities like video conferencing, Google, Microsoft, Skype and other tools to work remotely.
He said that the panic and disruptions to services had showed the country unpreparedness to emergencies and had opened a new vista for capacity building training for the association members and the public.
He said that to maintain relevance in the corporate world, there was need for training on modern digital skills and tools.
According to him, the tough time has brought relevance to Microsoft and has seen more than 750 per cent increase in the usage of collaboration platform and changed the social and work environment culture.
He said that the first virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the association was held on Wednesday and this gave members the opportunity to participate from different part of the world.
According to him, the AGM, which is the ninth in the series, accorded the executive committee to present the association scorecard since the last AGM.
“At the meeting, HuCaPAN got members approval for its financial statements for the year ended 2019, appointed new auditors and ratified its amended Constitution.
“At the zoom meeting, the president identified the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak as the reason for the virtual meeting which would have hitherto held in April physically.
“COVID-19 has affected every sector of the economy including the outsourcing industry, members are urged to however take advantage of the new opportunities that the situation has provided,’’ he said.
He also commented on the proposed private bill before the House of Representative which aimed at outlawing outsourcing in Nigeria, adding that the sponsor of the bill was not well informed on the outsourcing industry.
He said that there was a clear difference between outsourcing and casualisation, adding that HuCaPAN mantra was that anywhere a Nigerian was found working; he or she must have a decent job.
He however called on the country policy makers to research into outsourcing and find out its benefit to the economy and be more concerned with the terms and conditions of service of workers rather than who they worked for.
He said: “HuCaPAN has made its position known to the Labour Act Review Committee through the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) and has been engaging stakeholders including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).
“As a responsible association, we have given ourselves, a housekeeping guideline in addition to the Nigeria Code of Conduct for Private Employment Agencies; HuCaPAN, will continue to partner with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
In his response, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who was represented in the meeting by the Director of Employment and Wages in the ministry, Mr John Nyamali congratulated HuCaPAN for maintaining standard that industry required.
The Director-General, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Dr Timothy Olawale, who was also represented by a Director in the agency, Mr Thompson Akpabio commended HuCaPAN for continuously organising capacity building programmes for its members. (NAN)
