News
Senator Accuses Banks of Turning Female Marketers to Sex Slaves
The Senate, on Thursday, considered a bill seeking to stop employers in the private and public sectors from engaging employable Nigerian graduates as casual workers.
The Prohibition of Casualization Bill 2020, is sponsored by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (PDP, Ondo Central).
Akinyelure while citing the banking industry as a hub for casualisation, blamed banks for turning female marketers into harlots and sexual slaves in a desperate attempt by them to keep their jobs and meet unrealistic deposit targets.
“Casualization of Nigerian graduates in the Nigerian labour market has become a subject of great concern as more workers continue to groan under this immoral strategy of cutting cost by employers rendering them inferior to their counterpart in other countries of the world.” He said
According to him, “Statistics from the Nigeria Labour Congress shows that many workers in the telecommunications, oil and gas sectors are engaged as casual labourers by employers of labours.
“Other sectors with thousands of casual labourers include mining, steel, banking and insurance.
“In all these sectors, staff outsourcing and casualization have become the order of the day as such workers no longer have regularised employment terms and, therefore, Nigerian graduates are treated as second class citizens in their own country of origin while foreigners from underdeveloped Countries from Asian, Indian, Pakistan, Lebanon with less qualification to Nigerian graduates are placed as managers above Nigerian graduates in many Private and even Government establishments in Nigeria.”
Akinyelure raised alarm that the scourge of casualization of employment in Nigeria is gaining grounds in an unprecedented proportion, intensity and scale.
“The increase in the spread and gradual acceptance of this labour practice in the Nigerian labour market has become an issue of great concern to stakeholders,” he lamented.
“Employers of labour is increasingly filling positions in their organizations that are supposed to be permanent skilled workers with casual employees.
“The trend has been largely attributed to the increasing desperation of employers to cut down organisational costs and thereby taking advantage of large numbers of unemployed graduates roaming the streets of our major cities in Nigeria.
“Mr President and Distinguished Colleagues, engagement of large attendants of the work force on the basis of visualization has become worrisome in the Nigeria labour market.
“Mr. President, let me re-emphasize that on daily basis, these workers are recruited at the gate and tired at will, in spite of the fact that these workers continue to generate enormous profits for the various establishment they work for, they remain classified as casuals and subjected to deplorable and inhumane working conditions.
“Apart from the fact that these categories of workers are working under spate of uncertainties, casualization also reveals a brutal work growth process similar to slave labour,” he said.
Akinyelure while citing the banking industry as a hub for casualization, blamed banks for turning female marketers into harlots and sexual slaves in a desperate attempt by them to keep their jobs and meet unrealistic deposit targets.
“Mr. President, in Banking and Insurance Industry for instance, many young graduates particularly female are employed as Marketers and given unrealistic Customer deposit ceiling targets running into millions. They are hired and fired at will when such unrealistic targets are not met.
“The female among them who are desperate in keeping their jobs turned to harlotry and sex slavery, moving from one office to the other looking for invisible customers who had staunch of fund to enable them meet their targets Mr. President, it is high time this evil and devilish act is stopped,” the lawmaker fumed.
Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South), while re-echoing Akinyelure’s observation said, “Our girls have been turned into what we cannot imagine. Most of them have been asked to look for funds, and when come us, I always tell them, I do not even have the funds to eat, how can I have funds to keep with you in the bank?
“And they will never be promoted if they don’t bring in such funds, and this is a banking industry that is privately owned, yes, but has made so much profit, and from the profit they could at least take the few that they can manage properly, rather than take a lot that they will be giving pittance.”
The lawmaker, therefore, harped on the need to have a legal framework to ensure that casualization does not exist.
“If you must take workers, take the number you can on proper emoluments,” she said.
On his part, Senator Ajibola Basiru (APC, Osun Central) while citing the position of the Supreme Court – which gives employers the power to hire and fire – called for caution in the way the bill is tweaked, adding that the National Assembly “must make a distinction in making the prohibition between employment in the public sector and employment in the private sector.”
Ovie Omo-Agege, deputy Senate President, on his part, while throwing his weight behind the bill, lamented the treatment of casual workers by oil companies operating in the country.
Another lawmaker, Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger East), said, “I think we need to be a bit careful with this bill, reasons are not far fetched.
“Both in the public sector and the private sector, when we talk about casualization, there are certain organizations even in the public sector that require the services of casual workers.
“I give a simple example with the Independent National Electoral Commission. When election period comes, they engage close to about 700,00 to 900,000 people, who they engage all over Nigeria for the purpose and conduct of election.
“A lot of manufacturing firms today, if they say they are going to engage everybody as a permanent employee, even the graduates, because there are certain functions that just unskilled personnel cannot be able to handle, you need to have somebody that has requisite qualifications.”
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks charged the Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to strike a balance in the bill to ensure that casual workers in the country are not made victims of layoffs.
“The fact remains that we need employment for our people, especially our teeming youth on one hand.
“On the other hand, we don’t want discrimination.
“If we say no casualization at all, some of our people could be victims of layoffs, and, of course, we know what casualization brings. You don’t have any entitlements outside of what you’re given immediately.
“So, we need to strike a balance to ensure that those who have to be employed on Adhoc basis – like one of our colleagues tried to show in INEC recruitments for example – and even in some of the sectors, don’t suffer too much, but that we emphasize getting permanent and pensionable appointments or employment opportunities for our people.
“I think government has a role. While government cannot employ everyone, we have the responsibility to create the environment or climate for employment opportunities to be available, either in government MDAs, or because the economy is good; private sector could engage even more than the government can do.
“So, we have the opportunity now to take this matter before the Nigerian public, and whatever we feel is the general view is what we should try to reflect when we finally pass the bill as we wish to, because this is a very important and indeed a sensitive bill because we need to have a balancing Act.
“If you say no casualization in Nigeria at all, there’ll be consequences definitely. And, if you don’t say anything about it, some people will just be suffering – in the words of the sponsors of this bill – from the very devilish and evil treatment of those who employed them.”
The bill after scaling second reading was referred by the Senate President to the Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to report back within four weeks.
Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan Africa countries rank ninth out of nine global regions as Egypt has emerged as Africa’s leading country in artificial intelligence readiness, ranking first on the continent and 51st globally in the 2025 Government AI Readiness Index published by Oxford Insights.
The impressive ranking has been lauded as underscoring North Africa’s growing influence in the global AI race.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the country scored 57.5 points out of 100, climbing 14 places from 65th in 2024.
The Nile nation also ranked fourth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, behind Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
The Oxford Insights index assesses 195 governments using 69 indicators across six pillars, including policy capacity, governance, AI infrastructure, public sector adoption, development and diffusion, and resilience.
Egypt topped the Policy Capacity pillar globally with a perfect score of 100, tying with the UK, Serbia and Australia, an indicator of strong national AI policymaking and institutional readiness.
Oxford Insights noted that countries such as Egypt are “expanding the use of AI across national priorities while shaping policies to strengthen domestic AI ecosystems,” although gaps in infrastructure and talent development remain in some contexts.
MCIT minister Amr Talaat attributed Egypt’s strong performance to deliberate government action.
“This achievement reflects our efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into public services and accelerate digital transformation through Egypt’s second National AI Strategy. We are positioning Egypt as a regional AI hub while ensuring AI delivers real economic and social value,” he said.
Launched for 2025–2030, Egypt’s National AI Strategy targets sectors such as healthcare, justice and public administration, while aiming to train 30 000 AI specialists by 2030 and raise AI’s contribution to GDP to 7.7%.
Talaat also highlighted Egypt’s cybersecurity credentials when he highlighted that the country ranked among the top 12 globally in the ITU’s Global Cyber security Index.
Regionally, the results expose sharp contrasts across Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa ranks ninth out of nine global regions, with an average score of 28.04, reflecting persistent gaps in AI infrastructure and public sector adoption.
However, countries such as Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius and Nigeria lead the sub-region, while Rwanda and Ethiopia are gaining momentum through innovation hubs and policy reforms.
In contrast, the MENA region ranks fifth globally, buoyed by significant investment in AI infrastructure and policy capacity, particularly in Gulf states.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court over the alleged failure to account for ₦55.9 billion reportedly meant for the procurement of election materials for the 2019 general elections.
The grave allegations are documented in the latest annual report published by the Auditor-General on 9 September 2025.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/38/2026 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to account for the missing or diverted N55.9 billion meant to buy smart card readers, ballot papers, and other election materials for the 2019 general elections.”
SERAP is also seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to disclose the names of all contractors paid the N55.9 billion for the procurement of smart card readers, ballot papers, result sheets, and other election materials for the 2019 general elections, including the names of their directors and shareholders.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that: “INEC must operate without corruption if the commission is to ensure free and fair elections in the country and uphold Nigerians’ right to participation.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “INEC cannot ensure impartial administration of future elections if these allegations are not satisfactorily addressed, perpetrators including the contractors involved are not prosecuted and the proceeds of corruption are not fully recovered.”
According to SERAP, “INEC cannot properly carry out its constitutional and statutory responsibilities to conduct free and fair elections in the country if it continues to fail to uphold the basic principles of transparency, accountability and the rule of law.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “These allegations also constitute abuse of public office and show the urgent need by INEC to commit to transparency, accountability, clean governance and the rule of law.”
SERAP also said, “Allegations of corruption in the supply of smart card readers, ballot papers, result sheets and other election materials directly undermine Nigerians’ right to participate in elections that are free, fair, transparent, and credible.”
The lawsuit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Andrew Nwankwo, read in part: “These grim allegations by the Auditor-General suggest a grave violation of the public trust, the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and international anticorruption standards.”
“According to the recently published 2022 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ‘irregularly paid’ over N5.3 billion [N5,312,238,499.39] ‘to a contractor for the supply of Smart Card Readers for the 2019 general elections’.
“The contract was awarded without prior approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council. The payment was also ‘made without any document. There was no evidence of supplies to the commission.’”
Federal government has inaugurated a ₦40 billion closed-circuit television (CCTV) control centre for the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.
Speaking at the inauguration on Sunday, David Umahi, minister of Works, said the project followed extensive rehabilitation works carried out on the bridge after the current administration took office in 2023.
“When we came on board in 2023, we met a very terrible Third Mainland Bridge,” Umahi said, adding that the structure, along with Carter and Iddo bridges, required comprehensive re-evaluation and repairs both above and below water level.
He said President Bola Tinubu approved the total rehabilitation of the bridge, including replacement of expansion joints, noting that the completed work had improved driving conditions and extended the bridge’s lifespan.
Umahi said the CCTV system, first announced in 2025, was designed to curb dangerous driving, prevent suicide attempts and strengthen security.
He added that security personnel would monitor live footage from the control centre and enforce speed limits on the bridge.
The minister commended the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which executed the project, for what he described as high-quality delivery. He said the contract also included a surveillance boat and two Hilux vans, which would be handed over to the police to support monitoring and rapid response.
“The idea is that we can see everything that is happening on the bridge,” Umahi said, expressing concern over excessive speeding and urging motorists to comply with traffic regulations.
Earlier, Olufemi Dare, federal controller of works in Lagos, said the facility was the first of its kind on any bridge in Nigeria.
He said the system allows real-time monitoring of activities on the bridge and surrounding waters.
Dare said the project includes 240 solar panels, 10 inverters, a 300 KVA transformer, a standby generator, multiple monitoring screens and full air-conditioning for the control centre.
He added that the contract also covers 1,268 solar-powered street lights and a borehole facility.
According to Dare, the project was awarded at a cost of ₦40.17 billion, with about ₦36 billion paid so far to the contractor. He said the current inauguration marked the first phase, with additional commissioning planned once work on the bridge’s extension is completed.
He thanked the president for approving the project and praised Umahi for ensuring due process during its execution.
Nigeria, Others Lag Behind as Egypt Tops Africa in AI Readiness
Wema Bank Upgrades ALAT Banking App
Firm Launches AI-powered Platform to Simplify New Tax Laws
Study Reveals 88.5% of Phishing Attacks Focus on Stealing Account Credentials
X Suspends Twitter Account for Rules Violation
Banks quietly move to enforce new ₦50 transfer levy from Jan. 1
FIRS says NIN, CAC Numbers to Serve as Tax IDs from 2026
Nigeria Takes the Lead in the Global WSIS+20 Digital Agenda
PalmPay Launches N400 Million World Travel Carnival, Rewarding Users with Free Global Trips
Check Point Reveals Nigeria as Second Most Targeted African Country for Cyberattacks in November
General News2 days agoMinistry of Finance Leads FG-Backed Deal to Deliver Quality Homes and Boost Agriculture in Niger State
News2 days agoSERAP Sues INEC Over Alleged ₦55.9Bn Election Funds Diversion
Telecom2 days agoFG Plans to Invest $460m World Bank Loan in Fibre Infrastructure
News2 days agoAI Founders and Developers to Converge in Lagos for AI in Action 2026 conference
E-Financial2 days agoNDIC Declares Second Liquidation Dividend for Heritage Bank Depositors
News2 days agoFG Inaugurates N40Bn CCTV Control Centre for Third Mainland Bridge
General News2 days agoTax Reforms Panel Rejects KPMG’s Critique of New Laws
General News2 days agoIndonesia Blocks Elon Musk’s Grok Over Deepfake Concerns