INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST ASSOCIATION SEEKS FOR RECOGNITION

The Association of Industrial hygienists of Nigeria (AIHN) wants a legislative backing for their association to enable them contribute positively to the growth of the general wellbeing of our work force.

This was made known by the national President of the Association, Mrs Ifeyinwa Anya during the opening ceremony of its third annual conference at the Hotel Presidential in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State on Friday.

In her opening remarks at the conference, she stated that, “this year’s theme, ‘Addressing Occupational health risk in Nigeria: Strengthening the role of Industrial Hygiene’, could not be more timely or relevant to our nation’s workforce challenges.”

In an interview with newsmen on the sidelines of the conference she said, “that’s one of the driving forces for this conference. If you’re aware, we do have legislative Acts; we’ve the factory Act; we’ve the mineral, noise and something Acts. But we don’t have anyone that has to do with workers health reception.

“And this is why we’ve put out so many publications and this conference so that we can reach out to the legislators; we can reach out to politicians and influencers to drag us in and tell them. This is why we’re asking politicians, legislators down to the grassroot to come and support us so that we can drive this. We’ve all the experts. . . What we’re driving at is workers health protection.”

Supporting her position is Mr Ukhum Ehidiamem Anthony, an Environmental Health Professional and an Industrial Hygienist who told Journalists in an interview at venue of the conference that, “in Nigeria, there’s no legislative backing. There’s currently no backing by legislation which is part of why we’re here. We’re creating awareness to make people see what’s happening here and that awareness, we need it to get to the government.”

The three days conference ends on Saturday.