CASUALIZATION AND LABOUR UTILIZATION IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT Casualization in the Nigerian labour market is a subject of great concern. Increase casual employees are filling positions that are permanent in nature; in line with employee vulnerability in Nigeria is the high level of unemployment and accompanying poverty. The world economic meltdown has bred a dangerous work environment where many desperate job seekers in the labour force are willing to take any job for survival purposes rather than dignity. Labour exploitation is pervasive in many organizations in Nigeria. It manifests itself in one form or the other including poor salary, wages and salary arrears system, training, promotion, motivation, sense of belonging, job satisfaction and dehumanization of work and workers. Casualization is the other name for a temporary employment, which is manifest in industries, whether in transnational, multinational, public or private and in the informal sector. Definitions of casual employment are often a site of confusion and controversy, marked by tensions between vernacular, regulatory and contractual meanings. Therefore, this paper is to examine casualization and labour utilization in Nigeria. The paper was guided by the neo-liberal theory and the social action theory. The choice of these theories is informed by the fact that no one single theory can explain in totality the relationship between casualization and labour utilization in Nigeria. Key words: Dehumanization, Labour Exploitation, Job Satisfaction, Temporary Employment, Privatization and Commercializatio