DMW eyes OFW office in Nigeria

MANILA, Philippines — To provide assistance and services to the growing number of Filipino workers in West Africa, a migrant workers office will be set up in Abuja, Nigeria, the Department of Migrant Workers said.

The DMW said the Abuja office aims to expand the department’s presence in the region and immediately provide assistance and services to an estimated 7,000 overseas Filipino workers, mostly employed as clerks, managers and machine operators.

“If we have an office there, channeling of services would be more efficient. Through our Aksyon Fund, it will be easier to extend legal, medical, financial and humanitarian assistance to OFWs in need,” DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said in a statement.

Cacdac stressed that special attention would be given to Filipino seafarers who encounter piracy as well as to undocumented OFWs under the third-country hiring.

The DMW has limited presence in Northern Africa through its Rabat, Morocco office, which also covers Libya, Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia.

“Though we are not promoting overseas employment there, we always look out for the protection of our OFWs. Number one is safe and ethical recruitment to make sure that our OFWs are documented and protected,” Cacdac said.