It’s time to rewrite Nigeria’s labour laws

BY SUCCESS AKPOJOTOR

Dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,

There is an invisible war unfolding in Nigeria, not in the streets, but in our workplaces, schools, and digital platforms. It is a quiet war against dignity, fairness, and the right of every Nigerian to earn a living without exploitation. The weapon? An outdated Labour Act — written in 2004, frozen in time, and dangerously disconnected from the realities of 2025. Alien to the future. While Nigeria has changed, our labour laws have not.

The result is a growing legal vacuum where millions of hardworking Nigerians, including teachers, NYSC corps members, freelancers, creatives, tech workers, and informal labourers, are left unprotected, unseen, and unvalued. Teachers go unpaid during holidays. Job seekers are humiliated during recruitment. Corps members are treated as free labour. Bolt drivers and content creators sign no contracts.

Mental health breakdowns are ignored. Domestic workers have no voice. This isn’t just neglect. It is systemic silence. Mr. President, this is your moment to lead a historic correction. We acknowledge that the House of Representatives is currently considering the Labour Standards Bill, the Collective Labour Relations Bill, and the Occupational Safety and Health Bill. These are important steps, but they cannot exist in isolation.

Nigeria does not need patchwork policies. We need a bold, unified overhaul of the Labour Act itself. Anything less would amount to technical tinkering in the face of a national emergency.

The Future of Work Is Here — But the Law Is Stuck in the Past

Across the globe, countries are updating their labour frameworks to reflect the explosion of gig work, digital platforms, youth underemployment, and worker mental health. Nigeria must not be left behind.

A 2004 law cannot regulate 2025 realities. What is at stake is not just justice. It is Nigeria’s economic future. If we continue to normalise exploitation, we will stunt innovation, discourage hard work, and lose the trust of our own citizens. A law that protects only the powerful is not a law. It is silence written in ink.

Our Call

We urge your administration to commission a comprehensive, participatory, and visionary review of the Labour Act that will:

Protect all workers, including gig, freelance, creative, and informal sectors
Enforce clear job descriptions, contracts, and overtime rules
Cap notice periods at one month, as already outlined in Section 11 of the Act
Criminalise public humiliation and exploitative recruitment practices
Extend labour rights to NYSC members, interns, and volunteers
Protect mental health and enforce employer accountability
Make labour literacy a part of Nigeria’s national curriculum
Establish fast, free, and fair labour tribunals
Require all employers, not just corporations, to obey labour laws, including schools, churches, clubs, and households

Mr. President, Why You?

Because you have positioned yourself as a leader of reform. Because you understand that economic growth is meaningless without protection for those who drive it. And because history remembers those who had the courage to modernise outdated systems.

This is your chance to be remembered not just as a President, but as a builder of justice. We are not asking for perfection. We are asking for action. On behalf of Nigeria’s invisible, informal, and exploited workers, we ask you to lead.

Success Akpojotor is a labour rights advocate and educator