The Development of the Nigerian Labour Movement

Abstract

<p>The major objective of this work is to analyse the impact of the state and socio-economic structure on the emergence and development of trade unionism in Nigeria. The literature on African urban wage workers portrays them either as a vanguard for the structural transformation of society needed to overcome underdevelopment or as priviledged labour aristocracy. Utilising data on the Nigerian situation both of these views are substantially rejected in this thesis. Essentially l have tried to demonstrate reasoned skepticism regarding the political significance of the Nigerian working class and to show that even in strictly economic matters of the fight for higher wages, trade union economism has not significantly benefitted Nigerian urban workers.</p> <p>An explanation to this situation is put forward in terms of the role of the state and the nature of the socio-economic structure. l argue that both in the colonial and post-colonial periods the Nigerian state has assumed the role of Capital in the development of labour and has thus been able to both maintain low wages and keep labour politically insignificant. l further argue that the Nigerian ethnic political structure which itself arises from, and is reinforced by, the Nigerian peripheral capitalist relations of production, makes it as yet impossible for Nigerian urban workers to organise on a basis beyond economism.</p>