The Emerging Digital Realities and Implication for Fair Recruitment in Nigerian Media Industry

Abstract

The increasing application of new digital technologies in the media industry has been radically changing the landscape of that sector, transforming values and practices within it. This transformation, inevitably, has also been felt regarding how human labour is treated
in that sector. Against this backdrop, this chapter focuses on the effect of the new digital realities on fair recruitment in the Nigerian media sphere. It argues that these emerging realities are increasingly compromising fair recruitment principles as espoused in relevant ILO instruments especially the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998, as amended in 2022) and the General Principles and Operational Guidelines for Fair Recruitment and Definition of Recruitment Fees and Related Costs (2019). This is
especially in relation to clarity of recruitment terms, fair reward for the employee, workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced or compulsory labour, discrimination in employment and occupation, safe and healthy working environment, and
proper equipping of the worker with the necessary working tools. The chapter, however, concludes that strict enforcement of domestic labour laws and regulations would, to a reasonable extent, result in realization of fair recruitment in the Nigerian media industry
even in the face of the new digital realities that are redefining practices and values in the sector.