The General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Emmanuel Okechukwu Ugboaja, has died at the age of 60.
Ugboaja, a lawyer and veteran trade unionist, reportedly died after a protracted illness.
His death was disclosed to members of the National Executive Council of the NLC during a meeting in Enugu, where the Congress President, Joe Ajaero, reportedly read a letter from Ugboaja’s family announcing his passing.
Details surrounding the circumstances of his death remained limited as of the time of filing this report.
Ugboaja had served as General Secretary of the NLC since August 2019, becoming the fifth person to occupy the position since the establishment of the Congress in 1978.
Born on May 15, 1966, Ugboaja graduated in Law from the University of Calabar in 1987 and practised privately for about four years before moving into full-time trade union work.
In 1993, he joined the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees, an affiliate of the NLC.
He rose through the ranks of the union and served as its General Secretary between 2000 and 2005.
The NLC had, at the time of his appointment as its General Secretary, described Ugboaja as the first Nigerian lawyer to work full-time for a trade union.
Between 2006 and 2009, he served as Coordinator of Advocacy and Mobilisation at the Alliance for Credible Elections, a civil society organisation involved in electoral advocacy.
Ugboaja subsequently joined the NLC secretariat and served in senior capacities, including as Principal Assistant General Secretary and Head of Industrial Relations and Organising, before emerging as General Secretary.
His experience also extended to national constitutional and political reform engagements.
He was a delegate to the 2005 National Political Reform Conference convened under former President Olusegun Obasanjo and also participated in the 2014 National Conference convened during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
During his tenure, he worked alongside successive NLC leaderships and participated in negotiations and engagements involving minimum wage, workers’ welfare, industrial disputes and broader labour policy.
During his tenure, he worked alongside successive NLC leaderships and participated in negotiations and engagements involving minimum wage, workers’ welfare, industrial disputes and broader labour policy.
He was also one of the NLC representatives on the tripartite committee constituted by the Federal Government to negotiate a new national minimum wage.
Beyond industrial relations, Ugboaja was involved in civil society advocacy, electoral reform and policy discussions and remained one of organised labour’s prominent legal and administrative figures.
His death marks the loss of one of the senior officials at the centre of the NLC’s administrative and industrial-relations machinery for several years.
The family and the Nigeria Labour Congress are expected to announce further details, including funeral arrangements, subsequently.