Emmanuel Ugboaja, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has passed away after a protracted illness, aged 60.
Details surrounding his death were murky at time of reporting this news, Tribune reported.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero conveyed the news to members of the Congress National Executive Council (NEC) reading a letter by the late General Secretary’s family to delegates meeting in Enugu, Enugu State.
Ugboaja, a lawyer and experienced trade unionist, had been in charge of the NLC Secretariat since August 2019 when the Congress’ National Executive Council accepted his appointment at a meeting in Kano to take over from the retiring Peter Ozo-Eson.
As General Secretary, Ugboaja ran the administrative and strategic machinery of the NLC, coordinating affiliates, managing industrial relations, negotiating with government and employers, shaping policy and mobilising workers. President Ajaero was the principal political face of the Congress.
It was his background in industrial relations that was behind some of the labour movement’s major fights with government.
His first big test after assuming office in 2019 was being sucked into discussions on the implementation of the N30,000 national minimum wage, a stand-off that brought organised labour to the brink of strike action before a settlement was reached.
In the years that followed he played a continuing key part in Labour’s relationship with government.
In April 2026 he approved an NLC directive for May Day street rallies by workers in states that had not completely implemented the 2024 National Minimum Wage Act, underlining his involvement in turning Congress policy into statewide action.
Born on 15 May 1966, Ugboaja read Law at the University of Calabar, graduating in 1987. Before joining the trade union movement in 1993, he worked for some four years in private legal practice, a decision which made him, according to the NLC’s historical biography, the first Nigerian lawyer to work full-time for a trade union.
He cut his teeth in the Labour movement with the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE), an NLC affiliate, rising to serve as its General Secretary between 2000 and 2005.
Later, his career opened up into areas beyond the usual labour unionism. Between 2006 to 2009, he was Coordinator, Advocacy and Mobilisation, at the Alliance for Credible Elections, a civil-society group focusing on electoral issues until joining the NLC Secretariat in 2009.
Ugboaja was also a participant in two major national political and constitutional reform programs, serving as a delegate for organised labour to the Political/Constitutional Reform Conference under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005 and at the Constitution Review Conference under President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.
He had previously been Principal Assistant General Secretary and Head of Industrial Relations and Organising in the NLC before emerging from a competitive selection process to take up the top job in 2019.
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