The federal government and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) have launched Nigeria’s first National Industrial Relations Policy (NIRP) to strengthen industrial harmony, improve workplace dispute resolution and promote inclusive economic growth.
The policy was launched in Abuja by the minister of Labour and Employment, Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, in collaboration with the ILO.
At the event, the minister said the policy would provide a unified framework for managing industrial relations in the country, noting that Nigeria’s labour environment had operated for decades without a comprehensive policy guide despite existing statutes and conventions.
He said disputes that should ordinarily be resolved at workplace level often escalated unnecessarily, while collective bargaining had sometimes become confrontational rather than collaborative.
According to him, the policy is built on three major pillars of social dialogue, rights at work, and productivity and competitiveness.
The minister said government would strengthen institutions such as the national labour advisory council and sectoral joint councils to ensure continuous engagement among government, employers and workers.
He added that the policy reaffirmed workers’ rights, including freedom of association, effective collective bargaining, elimination of forced and child labour, and non-discrimination in line with International Labour Organisation conventions ratified by Nigeria.
He said, “This Policy provides the compass. Industrial harmony is not the absence of conflict. It is the presence of institutions and trust to manage conflict.
With this policy, we are choosing dialogue over disruption, partnership over protest, and progress over polarization.”
He added that the implementation measures would include reforms of labour institutions, nationwide training programmes for trade union leaders and labour officers, as well as the establishment of a National Industrial Relations Observatory to monitor workplace grievances before they degenerate into strikes.
In her remarks, the ILO director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and liaison office for ECOWAS, Vanessa Phala, described the policy as a transformative milestone for Nigeria’s world of work.
She commended the federal government, employers’ organisations and labour unions for sustaining dialogue throughout the process, stressing that the policy reflected a nationally owned framework shaped through broad consultations and consensus-building.
Phala said the policy addressed both traditional labour concerns and emerging issues such as technological transformation, ecological transition, demographic changes and the future of work.
Phala said, “This is not a policy imported from elsewhere, nor a reform imposed from outside. It is a co-created policy, born out of dialogue, deliberation and, at times, robust debate.
Today, Nigeria sends a strong and meaningful signal: the choice of dialogue, anticipation and shared responsibility as the foundations for building a future of work anchored in dignity, productivity and social cohesion.”
Earlier, the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr Kamil Shoretire, said the launch marked the beginning of a new era in Nigeria’s industrial relations system.
He noted that the policy would provide a framework for preventing disputes, strengthening collective bargaining, protecting workers’ rights and promoting enterprise sustainability across the country.
Both employers, organised labour and other social partners at the launch warned that the policy should not fail at the point of implementation.
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