From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Federal Government and the Republic of the Philippines have met to deepen bilateral labour relations.
The development took place when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, received the Secretary (Minister) of Migrant Workers of the Republic of the Philippines, Hans Leo Cacdac, in Abuja.
In his remarks, Tuggar said the relationship between Nigeria and the Philippines was an age-long relationship that dated back to the time of independence, adding that both countries had maintained missions in each other’s country for a long while.
He noted that both countries had a joint commission and had shared a lot, stressing that a lot of people of his generation went to school at the time when Nigeria had a lot of teachers from the Philippines.
“Many of us were taught, particularly STEM subjects, by Filipinos, and when you are taught by an individual from a different country, that person is imparting not just the knowledge of the subject, but also the culture and the traditions.
“So, you feel at home with people from that country. We share that, and beyond that, we have a lot of workers for decades from the Philippines that have participated in our aviation and maritime industries,” Tuggar said.
The minister further said the Tinubu administration had a foreign policy that laid emphasis on Nigerian workers, who would inevitably be working abroad because Nigeria is a large country, a country of 230 million people, youthful and that at the moment, there are many parts of the world that are experiencing dearth of skilled workers. In his remarks, Cacdac expressed gratitude to Tuggar for the appreciation and understanding of the need to deepen the relations between Nigeria and the Philippines, and in particular, in the area of labour, in a better understanding of the mutual interest of Nigeria and the Philippines and the way in which both countries can learn from each other in terms of finding better ways and areas of cooperation to the advantage of both economies. “Back home in the Philippines, we have a migration management system that has managed to document millions of Filipino workers overseas and we also have a system that ably fights human trafficking. We have very good standing and rating in the latest US State Department Trafficking in Person Report.
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