NLC, TUC adopt trade union labour migration policy

•Pledges renewed effort to migration workers’ rights protection

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) recently took a step further in the advocacy for decent work, fair recruitment, and the protection of migrant workers, with the adoption of the Trade Union Labour Migration Policy

The policy, the first of its kind, was developed with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and its development partners. The policy is said to further drive trade unions’ participation in the labour migration governance space, ensuring that migrant workers rights, both in Nigeria and abroad, are protected.

Speaking at the one day event held in Abuja, Dr Vanessa Phala, the Director, ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, described the finalization and adoption of the policy as an added demonstration of the role workers organisations play in both at the policy and practice level engagement on labour migration.

Phala commended the development and adoption of the policy, noting that it will strengthen organised labour’s ability to protect workers, respond to migration challenges, and shape policies that place human dignity at the centre.

She, however, charged the trade unions to go beyond adoption of the policy and ensure that its contents are implemented.

She said: “Beyond the adoption of this policy today, the duty and responsibility to ensure effective implementation is of a greater task. Ensuring that provisions in the policy are translated beyond normative text to practical and substantial support that migrant workers would require in facilitating their contribution to the labour market.”

Phala explained that the policy draws inspiration from global, regional, and continental frameworks, including the 2017 ILC Resolution, the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the ECOWAS Free Movement Protocols, the ECOWAS Labour Migration Strategy (2025 — 2030), the ECOWAS Common Approach, and African Union’s Agenda 2063.

“By aligning trade unions with these frameworks, the Policy provides a roadmap for institutionalising their participation in labour migration governance, while also embedding a rights-based and gender-responsive approach,” she said.

According to her, an effective labour migration governance architecture can contribute to better harnessing the gains of migration.

She said: “For Nigeria and indeed West Africa, Labour Migration is a reality which if well governed can serve as a true driver of development, economic integration, and social progress.

“Nigeria, as a major country of origin, transit and destination plays a pivotal role in shaping how migration is managed within the ECOWAS region.  This underscores the importance of today’s adoption of the Trade Union Labour Migration Policy, a framework aligned with International Labour Standards and advancing the rights-based approach to Labour Migration Governance.”

Also speaking, Comrade Eustace James, the NLC focal person on labour migration explained that for Trade Unions, the primary concern is about the protection and defense of workers’ human and labour rights and the entrenchment of the Decent Work Agenda, including Migrant Workers and their families.

He said: “labour migration is now a growing phenomenon, especially International Labour Migration. It has become a policy priority issue, giving rise to a need for labour market institutions, including trade unions, to respond equitably to the interests of migrant workers in countries of origin, transit, and destination. For Trade Unions to be effective in this sphere, they must develop and adopt policies based on substantial evidence, taking into account the peculiarities, dynamism, and emerging issues, including the number of international migrant workers involved, their characteristics, and their employment patterns, etc.”

He assured that the NLC and TUC will engage with relevant stakeholders and build the capacity of its affiliates for effective implementation of the policy.

He added: “We are going to engage the different actors, especially the media, on these policies and its utilization. The policy is a document, but if you don’t build capacity on the content, then it remains a document in the shelf. But with the adoption of the policy now, we ensure that we build capacity of the different actors and operators within the migration governance space on the policy so that it can be utilized and also ensure effective publicity of the policy. If people don’t even know that you have the policy, they cannot consult it. But if people know you have the policy, they will consult it, and it will guide what they are doing.”

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