By Sola Ogundipe

The Society of Occupational and Environmental Health Practitioners of Nigeria, SOEHPON, has charged the legislative arm of the Federal government to review obsolete laws that are militating against the attainment of the goal of occupational and environmental health safety for Nigerians. 

Making the call in Lagos during their 2023 Scientific Conference & Annual General Meeting, themed “Strategic Collaboration: A  key Driver to Good Occupational Health Practice”, the National President of  SOEHPON, Dr Musa Shaibu, said all relevant existing laws should be strengthened  to effectively drive occupational and environmental health safety.

His words: “The legislature has a role to play. The available laws today in the country are obsolete and we cannot use them to drive occupational and environmental health safety today, so the legislature must update the laws and make them functional.

“The executive arm of government is the one to put in place the regulatory arm to monitor how the laws are  implemented.”

Shaibu stressed that each Nigerian must know that occupational health and safety is personal business, even if they are working in a private or personal business.

“We are not leaving any sector out to ensure that the workers in the environment in each sector have a right to obtain quality health and occupational health wherever they are.

 “Despite the wonderful objectives of occupational health, the performance and service delivery is still below par compared to other countries.

“The biggest gap is in the area of ignorance because  people do not even know, and that is why we are on this mission of advocacy, and even among those who know, they do not prioritise the issue of work and safety in the workplace.”

On her part, a professor of occupational medicine at the University of Ibadan, Prof Folasade Omokhodion, explained that SOEHPON was reaching out to all stakeholders  in the formal and informal sectors in Nigeria.

“They have their smaller unions and fall under their own authorities, such that if we reach their  executives, we can reach their members and not just in the  big unions but the smaller informal sectors in Nigeria.

“We also need to reach out to the SMEs where occupational health is not really their trade mark. We are reaching out to the groups of people and companies run by Chinese and Lebanese, we know that many of our people are working with them in unfavourable conditions. We need to reach out to those employers and let them know that occupational health is of benefit to their companies.

Stressing that a healthy lifestyle in the workplace breeds healthy lifestyle, Omokhodion, described the workplace as the ideal place to educate the populace.

“If you have a weak and unhealthy workforce, the national income will drop because people will not be at their optimum in productivity, so we must focus on our workforce because they are the mainstay of our economy. We can maximise their capacity to improve their productivity.

The National PRO of SOEHPON, Dr. Charles Onigbogi, said the conference was essential as a means of reaching out to key  and experienced health and allied professionals in the industry.

“It is all about continuity and sustainability, so many things are happening in the industry and this is the best time to lay out a voice to that message that occupational health is important for everyone.

 Speaking on the conference theme, he said  SOEHPON was focusing on collaboration with all stakeholders as a key driver for occupational health delivery.

According to the Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Dr Uche Enumah, the peculiarity of this year’s scientific conference was the international outlook.

“This year, we went to America to bring the president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, ACOEM, who is also the President, Executive Committee of the New England College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, NECOEM, Dr, Kenji Saito who came all the way from the US to be our keynote speaker.

“Another standout for us is the theme – Strategic Collaboration: A  Key Driver to Good Occupational Health Practice, we want to collaborate with as many sectors, partners and stakeholders on occupational health. The collaboration has begun,” he noted.