Evolution of occupational health in Nigeria

Introduction
Nigeria with a population of 140 million and a total land area of 923,768 square kilometres, Nigeria is the fourth largest country in Africa. Sales, services and agriculture are the most common occupations among both men and women. Occupational health can still be described as rudimentary and evolving in the country. This review is conducted to trace the evolution, level of development, development and status of occupation health in Nigeria till date.

Methods
This review was conducted by critical appraisal of available literature, policies, legislation related to occupational health in the country.

Results

After the world war, many industries started emerging, the major ones among them were construction of rail lines and coal mining.. Workers commonly worked under unfavourable conditions. Both employers and employees had no knowledge of the association between work conditions and health. Workers' reaction to poor conditions at work resulted in the establishment of some occupational health services in some Nigerian industries and enactment of the Factory Act in 1958. Occupational health practitioners are few and are mostly engaged in multinational and large national establishments and medical schools. Workers in small-scale industries, particularly those in the informal sector have little or no access to occupational health services.The Ministry of labour produced the first National Policy on Safety and Health in 2006 detailing responsibilities of employers, workers, in maintaining health and safety of workers. Reporting of occupational diseases is weak and ineffective. The story is different for the multinational oil and gas companies operating in the country with established system of controlling occupational diseases.

Discussion
Occupational health practice in Nigeria is still largely undeveloped..Many workplaces in Nigeria have poor or non-existing occupational health services, making diagnosis and identification of the occupational diseases a near impossibility thereby undermining occupational health and safety, and national development.