The Politics of Workers Rights Protection: International Labour Organisation and Promotion of Labour Rights in Manufacturing Industry in Nigeria

Abstract

Conditions of work in manufacturing industry in Nigeria have generated concerns and the need for improvement. This study examined the level of compliance with International Labour Organization (ILO) standards among private manufacturing industries in Nigeria. Also, it determined the factors that are responsible for exploitation of workers in manufacturing industry in Nigeria. Primary and secondary data were sourced for this study. Primary data were obtained through conducting in-depth interviews with workers and entrepreneurs/managers in purposively selected firms in major cities across Nigeria. Secondary data were sourced from textbooks, academic journals, official publications of the ILO and the Internet. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and triangulation methods of data analysis. The study findings revealed low level of compliance with ILO standards among manufacturing firms in Nigeria. This was due to the fact that the motive and processes of production of private industrial corporations in Nigeria were founded on the ideology and philosophy of the bourgeois mode of production. In addition, the dualist legal system of Nigeria, which emphasises municipal legislation of international treaties, has undermined the domestication and enforcement of the ILO’s Conventions. The ILO’s lack of legislative power to make its decisions automatically operative within State members is an inhibition to the authority behind its adopted conventions. The study concluded that expeditious domestication and enforcement of ILO Conventions ratified by Nigeria should be promoted, so as to facilitate effective execution of ILO’s Decent Work Agenda in Nigeria. This will compel the improvement of conditions of work in both the public and private sectors.