The Federal Government has approved the domestication of the 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).
The approval was part of the decisions reached yesterday at the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, which was presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo in the absence of President Goodluck Jonathan who was away on official assignment in South Africa.
The MLC is expected to come into force by August 1, 2013.
It is an ancillary of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention established as the fourth pillar of the international maritime labour law.
The MLC incorporates various extant international maritime labour conventions and recommendations, as well as the fundamental principles to be found in other international labour conventions.
The code of the convention contains five titles: minimum requirements for seafarers to work on a ship, conditions of employment, accommodation, recreational facilities, food and catering, health protection, medical care, welfare and social security protection, as well as compliance and enforcement.
Already, 39 states, representing 68 per cent of global shipping in Geneva, Switzerland, have ratified the convention more than half a decade ago.
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