MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced that it was launching a migrant workers office (MWO) in Abuja, Nigeria.
In a statement on Friday, the agency said this was part of efforts to document overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in West Africa, and would “immediately provide assistance and services to the growing numbers of Filipino workers in the region.”
Also, the DMW announced that a team led by Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac would be visiting Nigeria and Liberia from “this week” until August 19 to “further deepen bilateral labor relations,” as per the directions of President Ferdinand Macos Jr.
According to the agency, Nigeria is home to around 6,000 OFWs employed as clerical support workers, managers, and machine operators, while there are 150 OFWs in Liberia.
“We don’t promote overseas employment that often, but we always look out for the protection of our OFWs. The top priority here is safe and ethical recruitment— to make sure that our OFWs are documented and protected,” Cacdac said.
Currently, the only presence of the DMW is through its Northern African MWO in Rabat, Morocco, that also covers Libya, Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and Tunisia.
