The ILO and the Political Economy of Labour Policy Making in Nigeria, 1930–1960

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the influence of the International Labour Organisation on labour policy-making in colonial Nigeria, between 1930 and 1960. Labour historians have argued that the impact of the ILO in colonial Africa was limited by its incapacity to enforce international labour standards and the circumvention of such standards by colonial powers. Using a corpus of new primary sources from the ILO archives in Geneva, this article complicates these arguments by establishing that the influence of the ILO was further compromised by labour unrests and intense rivalry among Nigerian union leaders. Thus, this research establishes a connection, for the first time, between union agitations and disunity in the labour movement and the limited impact of ILO standards in colonial territories. By analysing one country—Nigeria—in detail, as opposed to the empire-wide or regional focus of the extant literature, this research stresses the significance of local contexts to a more nuanced understanding of the limited impact of the ILO in colonial Africa. In addition, by examining labour policy-making from the perspective and archives of a supranational organisation, this article expands our understanding of labour history in colonial Nigeria. Historical research on Nigeria’s colonial labour policy-making has mainly focused on two main actors: the colonial government and the trade unions. The British annual reports to the ILO, however, confirms that colonial Nigerian labour policies from the 1930s were incomplete adaptation of ILO conventions. Among other evidence, this article demonstrates that Nigerian trade unions were aware of international labour standards and often referred to them in their negotiations with the government. Thus, although the impact of the ILO was limited as a result of issues discussed in the article, future research ought to recognise the organisation as an important agent in the colonial Nigerian labour policy-making process.