The National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) says no fewer than 617,503 individuals were in forced labour in their current job in 2022.

The NBS disclosed this in its Nigeria Forced Labour Survey Report 2022 released in Abuja on Thursday.

The bureau said forced labour as described in the International Labour Organisation(ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), referred to:

“All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”

The report said 5.2 out of every 1,000 individuals were in forced labour in their current job in 2022.

It said 36.2 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current job were found in the agricultural sector.

“While 36.9 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current job are found in the service sector, other than domestic work.”

The report revealed that 451,300 males and 166,203 females were in forced labour, while 270,545 were in urban areas and 346,958 were in rural areas.

“In terms of age group, 191,418 people were in forced labour in the 18 to 29 years old age group, and 317,052 people in the 30 to 49 years old age group.

“ In the 50 years old age group, 99,391 people were in forced labour,” the report said.

The NBS said overall, the prevalence of forced labour was similar across education levels for all groups except for individuals with a primary education level.

“This result shows that even highly educated individuals could be at risk of falling into situations of forced labour.

“The prevalence of forced labour is highest among individuals with primary education, for which 7.2 of every thousand individuals are in a situation of forced labour.

“This may be partially explained by the fact that individuals with only a primary education are not as well protected by their skills as the medium and highly educated individuals.”

The report revealed that married adults were slightly more likely to be in forced labour than unmarried individuals.

“With forced labour prevalence at 5.8 per every thousand individuals among married adults as compared to 4.1 per every thousand individuals among unmarried adults.”

It said out of individuals in forced labour in their current job, the most common form of coercion was withholding of payment of wages or benefits which was experienced by 35.2 per cent of individuals.

The report said among individuals in forced labour in their current job, the most common circumstance of involuntariness experienced was being made to work with no freedom or limited freedom to terminate their work contract at 29.7 per cent.

“This was followed by being made to stay at their job longer than agreed to without consent, which was experienced by 26.8 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current job.”

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, says plans are underway for a security summit aimed at tackling challenges associated with securing oil and gas installations in the country especially pipelines.

Musa, who disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja when he visited Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State, Petroleum Resources (Oil), was concerned about the crude oil lost to economic saboteurs but vowed to put an end to it.

The CDS said the meeting with the minister was to strategise with all relevant stakeholders including the Army, Navy and Airforce, as well as other security agencies to deal with the challenge.

He said the proposed summit being organised by the armed forces and other security agencies in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, would deliberate on ways to boost national security.

“We are looking at the possibility of having a security summit to look at the issues on ground and challenges; deliberating on how best to tackle them together.

“We all know that Nigeria relies so much on petroleum resources and it is important for the ministry of petroleum resource to be supported for him to work efficiently and effectively.

“President Bola Tinubu has given us a mandate to ensure national security and ensure that Niger Delta Region and areas where oil production is going on, are given full support, to boost production level,” he said.

Musa assured that the armed forces of Nigeria were fully in support of the ministry and would provide it with the necessary support to ensure that Nigerians benefit from the God-given resource.

The CDS, while commending the minister, said there had been a lot of improvement in the sector since his assumption of office, especially on issues bordering on illegal refineries and environmental pollution which had gone down drastically.

“This shows that you are really doing well; we want to appeal to all Nigerians to join hands together to ensure that we secure our resources for our benefit.

“We are with you day and night, we will not hesitate,” the CDS assured.

The minister, while responding, expressed commitment to work closely with the CDS to fight pipeline vandals and those engaging in illegal refining of crude oil as well as oil thieves.

“We cannot completely eliminate crime but by working together with you, we will be able to reduce the menace to the barest minimum and reap the benefit from oil and gas production.

“Our commitment is to give you all the support needed, not just the ministry alone but all the agencies in the sector will work closely with you to reduce the menace.

“Federal Government has an obligation to ensure increased production, to take care of the feedstock needed for the Dangote Refinery, Port Harcourt Refinery and others, so as to have full benefit across the entire value chain,’’ he said.

According to Lokpobiri, every country in the world prioritises security and investment in its strategic assets.

He noted that the quickest way to solve Nigeria’s economic problems was through oil and gas.

“Today, oil sells for over 90 dollars per barrel and if we ramp up production, reduce the level of oil theft and pipeline vandalism, we will be able to raise enough money to fund budgets and stabilise the economy,’’ he said.

Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi has inaugurated the newly established Ebonyi State University (EBSU) digitisation records management system (DRMS) for electronic data of staff and students.

The project was built for easy management of records of both students and personnel of the institution.

Nwifuru, Visitor to the institution inaugurated the multimillion naira project on Thursday at the permanent site of the university at Ishieke in Abakaliki during the world press conference by Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, the Vicv-Chancellor of EBSU.

The press conference was part of activities lined up for 2024 combined 12th – 15th convocation ceremony of graduands from 2019 to 2022.

Nwifuru, represented by Prof. Amari Omaka, Commissioner for Tertiary Education, commended the VC and management of the institution for great works done to elevate the fortunes of the institution.

The governor assured that his administration would stop at nothing to ensure that education was taken to a level where it would be celebrated such that Ebonyi would be a hub for education tourism in the country.

“We are proud of you and your team for what you are doing to making sure that our vision is realised going by the issues of successes of academic achievements recorded by various departments, international achievements being recorded in terms of ranking, visibility and physical infrastructure.

“I am happy with the success of the university and the digitisation programme; we are leaving the era of analogue to digitisation.

“From what I have seen so far, you have taken a giant stride to ensure that all records are preserved electronically not just in our computers but also in a cloud.

“So, it is my pleasure to be part of this programme and to inaugurate this project for the use of our university,” Nwifuru said.

Earlier,, Prof. Eugene Nweke , deputy Vice -Chancellor, Academics, explained that the project was a brain-child of the VC aimed at efficient management of records and information of personnel and students.

Nweke said that the project was undertaken by world-class ICT firm, KSMART Digital Solution Records Management System.

“As one of the efforts to address difficulties in the management of records and information of staff and students, the VC deemed it necessary for digitisation of records and information of all personnel and students of the university.

“‘We deem it necessary that at this auspicious occasion of our convocation that a project of this magnitude be inaugurated as part of land mark achievements of the Vice -Chancellor,” Nweke said.

Meanwhile, Dr Innocent Ogbue, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), KSMART Solution, said that once the digitisation process was completed, the university would have minimal paper records.

He noted that the records and information of personnel and students stored in the system were error proof stressing that the company worked with the records office of the institution to achieve the success.