Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Organized labor under military rule: the Nigerian labor movement, 1985–1992

  • Development Research
  • Published:
Studies In Comparative International Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article examines the recent evolution of state-labor relations in Nigeria. The research indicates that the present military regime has maintained neocorporatist relations within the labor movement in order to limit union demands concerning political reform and economic restructuring. In addition, the study claims that the relative exclusion of organized labor from the reform process has undermined union support for the regime’s program of political liberalization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • AFRICAN BUSINESS 1990 No. 140 (April): 29–37.

  • AFRICAN BUSINESS 1991a No. 150 (February): 15–17.

  • AFRICAN BUSINESS 1991b No. 151 (March): 39.

  • AFRICAN ECONOMIC DIGEST 1991 Volume 12 (7 January): 3–4.

  • AFRICA REPORT 1993a July/August: 26–28.

  • AFRICA REPORT 1993b November/December: 53–57.

  • ANANBA, WOGU 1969The trade union movement in Nigeria, London: C. Hurst and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1979The trade union movement in Africa. London: C. Hurst and Company

    Google Scholar 

  • BANGURA, Y. 1987 The recession and workers’ struggles in the vehicle assembly plants: Steyr-Nigeria.Review of African Political Economy 39: 270–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • BERGQUIST, CHARLES 1986Labor in Latin America: Comparative essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Columbia, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BOYD, R., ROBIN COHEN and PETER GUDKIND eds. 1986International labour and the third world, the making of a new working class. Adershot: Pall Mall Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CARTER CENTER, ed. 1989Beyond autocracy in Africa. Atlanta: The Carter Center, Emory University.

    Google Scholar 

  • COHEN, ROBIN 1974Labour and politics in Nigeria. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1981Labour and politics in Nigeria. London: Heinemann. Revised edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • COHEN, ROBIN and RICHARD SANDBROOK, eds. 1975The development of an African working class. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • COLLIER DAVID and RUTH BERINS COLLIER 1991Shaping the political arena: Critical junctures, the labor movement, and regime dynamics in Latin America. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DAMACHI, UKANDI and TAYO FAYOSHIN, eds. 1986Contemporary problems in Nigerian industrial relations. Lagos: Development Press Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • DIAMOND, LARRY 1984 Nigeria between dictatorship and democracy,Current History 520: 201–204, 222–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1987 Class formation and the swollen African state.Journal of Modern African Studies 25: 567–596.

    Google Scholar 

  • DRUM, BERNARD 1993 Privatization in Africa.Columbia Journal of World Business 28: 139–150.

    Google Scholar 

  • EJIOFOR, P.N.O. 1986 Employee welfare programmes: Dilemmas during depression. In Damachi and Fayoshin, eds., 98–118.

  • FAYOSHIN, TAYO 1986 Collective bargaining challenges during economic recession. In Damachi and Fayoshin, eds., 42–59.

  • FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA 1987aReport of the Political Bureau. Lagos: Government Information Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1987bGovernment’s views and comments on the findings and recommendations of the Political Bureau. Lagos: Government Information Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • FINANCIAL TIMES (London) 1993 August 9: 4.

  • FREUND, BILL 1988The African worker. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • GRAF, WILLIAM 1988The Nigerian state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • HAYNES, JEFFREY 1991 Railway workers and the P.N.D.C. government in Ghana, 1982–90,Journal of Modern African Studies 29: 135–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • HENLEY, JOHN S. 1989 African employment relationships and the future of trade unions.British Journal of Industrial Relations 27: 295–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • HERSKOVITS, JEAN 1984 Dateline Nigeria: Democracy down but not out.Foreign Affairs 83: 171–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (London) 1993 August 12: 2.

  • INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION 1992Handbook of labour statistics. Geneva: ILO.

    Google Scholar 

  • IWUJI, E.C. 1987 Settlement of trade disputes. InReadings in industrial relations in Nigeria, edited by D. Otobo and M. Omole, 21–41. Oxford and New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • JEFFRIES, RICHARD 1978Class, power, and ideology in Ghana: The railwaymen of Sekondi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • KARL, TERRY LYNN 1990 Dilemmas of democratization in Latin America.Comparative Politics 23: 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • KELLER, EDMOND J. 1989 Beyond autocracy: Prospects for progressive statecraft. InThe Carter Center, ed., 41–42.

  • KNIGHT, ALAN 1992 The peculiarities of Mexican history: Mexico compared to Latin America. 1821–1992.Journal of Latin American Studies (Quincentenary Supplement): 99–144.

  • LA BOTZ, DAN 1992The mask of democracy: Labor suppression in Mexico today. Boston: South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • LENNIHAN, LOUISE 1987 Agricultural wage labor in northern Nigeria. In Watts, ed., 248–267.

  • LUBECK, PAUL 1975 Unions, workers and consciousness in Kano, Nigeria: A view from below. In Cohen and Sandbrook, eds., 139–160.

  • — 1979 The value of multiple methods in researching third world strikes: A Nigerian example.Development and Change 10: 301–320.

    Google Scholar 

  • MELSON, ROBERT 1971 Ideology and inconsistency: The cross-pressured Nigerian worker.American Political Science Review 65: 61–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • MIDDLEBROOK, KEVIN 1989 The sounds of silence: Organised labour’s response to economic crisis in Mexico.Journal of Latin American Studies 21: 195–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • MOSLEY, K.P. 1989. Employer-provided housing in Nigeria: Some preliminary notes.African Urban Quarterly (Nairobi) 4: 5–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • MOSLEY, PAUL 1992 Policy-making without facts: A note on the assessment of structural adjustment policies in Nigeria, 1985–1990.African Affairs 91: 228–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1993 December: A3 (late edition).

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1994a 18 August: 2.

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1994b 19 August: 5.

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1994c 23 August: 5.

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1994d 24 August: 9.

  • NEW YORK TIMES 1994e 25 August: 20.

  • NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS 1985Towards national recovery: Nigeria Labour Congress’ alternatives. Lagos: NLC.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’DONNELL, G. 1986 Introduction to the Latin American cases. InTransitions from authoritarian rule: Latin America, edited by Guillermo O’Donnell, Philippe C. Schmitter and Laurence Whitehead, 1–18. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OHIORHENUAN, JOHN F.E. 1987Capital and the state in Nigeria. New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OTOBO, DAFE 1986Foreign interests and Nigerian trade unions. New York and Ibadan: Longmann.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1987aThe role of trade unions in Nigerian industrial relations. Oxford and New Dehli: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OTOBO, DAFE 1987b Strikes and lockouts in Nigeria: Some theoretical notes. In Otobo and Omole, eds., 221–232.

  • OTOBO, DAFE and M. OMOLE 1987Readings in industrial relations in Nigeria. Oxford and New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • OYEDIRAN, OYELEYE and ADIGUN AGBAJE 1991 Two-partyism and democratic transition in Nigeria.Journal of Modern African Studies 29: 213–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PEACE, ADRIAN 1979Choice, class and conflict: A study of Nigerian factory workers New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • SCHATZ, P. 1984 Pirate capitalism and the inert economy in Nigeria.Journal of Modern African Studies 22: 45–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • SHAFER, MCHAEL D. 1990 Sectors, states and social forces: Korea and Zambia confront economic restructuring.Comparative Politics 22: 127–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SKLAR, RICHARD 1979 The nature of class domination in Africa.Journal of Modern African Studies 27: 536–547.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1987 Developmental democracy.Comparative Studies in Society and History 29: 686–714.

    Google Scholar 

  • SKLAR, RICHARD 1991 Bourgeoisie and proletariat in contemporary Africa. Paper presented to the International Conference of Modern African Studies, Poland.

  • SONUBI, O. 1987 Trade unions since restructuring. In Otobo and Omole, eds., 221–232.

  • TUMAN, JOHN P. 1994 The politics of labor quiescence and confrontation in the Mexican automobile industry, 1980–1993. Paper presented to the Annual Conference of the Southwestern Political Science Association, San Antonio, Texas.

  • TURNER, TERESA 1986 Oil workers and the oil bust in Nigeria.Africa Today 33: 33–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • UBEKU, A.K. 1983Industrial relations in developing countries: The case of Nigeria. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • UBEKU, A.K. 1986 The role of the state in industrial relations. In Damachi and Fayoshin, eds., 22–41.

  • UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, BUREAU, OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR AFFAIRS 1988–89 Foreign labor trends: Nigeria. FLT 89-31. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1989–90Foreign labor trends: Nigeria FLT 90-47. Washington, D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1990–91Foreign labor trends: Nigeria., FLT 91-40. Washington, D.C: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1991–92aForeign labor trends: Nigeria. FLT 92-41. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1991–92bForeign labor trends: Ghana. FLT 95-50. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1992–93Foreign labor trends: Nigeria. FLT 93-16. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • UWAZURIKE, P. CHUDI 1990 Confronting potential breakdown: The Nigerian redemocratisation process in critical perspective.Journal of Modern African Studies 28: 55–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • VALENZUELA J. SAMUEL 1989 Labor movements in transitions to democracy.Comparative Politics 21: 457–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WATERMAN, PETER 1973 Communist theory in the Nigerian trade union movement.Politics and Society 3: 283–312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — 1982Division and unity amongst Nigerian workers: Lagos Port unionism, 1940s–1960s. Amsterdam: The Hague.

    Google Scholar 

  • WATTS, MICHAEL, ed. 1987aState, oil, and., agriculture in Nigeria. Berkeley: Institute for International Studies, University of California.

    Google Scholar 

  • WATTS, MICHAEL, ed., 1987b Postscript. In Watts, ed., 293–300.

  • WEST AFRICA 1989 2–8 October: 1641–1642.

  • WEST AFRICA 1991a 13–19 May: 768.

  • WEST AFRICA 1991b 25 February–3 March: 260–261.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Labor Studies and Industrial Relations, Pennsylvania State University, Old Botany Building, 16802-1602, University Park, PA

    John P. Tuman

Authors
  1. John P. Tuman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

John P. Tuman is a lecturer in the department of labor studies and industrial relations and in the department, of political science at Pennsylvania State University. Currently, he is working on a study of unions and restructuring in the Mexican automobile industry. His other research interests include comparative industrial relations and the politics of developing areas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tuman, J.P. Organized labor under military rule: the Nigerian labor movement, 1985–1992. Studies in Comparative International Development 29, 26–44 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687147

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02687147

Keywords

Search

Navigation