The General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Emmanuel Ugboaja, has died at the age of 60.
Ugboaja, a veteran trade unionist and lawyer, reportedly died after a protracted illness.
Details surrounding his death remained sketchy as of the time of filing this report. However, Vanguard gathered that NLC President, Joe Ajaero, read a letter from the late General Secretary’s family to members of the Congress National Executive Council (NEC), who were meeting in Enugu, Enugu State.
Ugboaja was appointed NLC General Secretary in August 2019, becoming the fifth person to occupy the position since the Congress was established in 1978.
Born on May 15, 1966, Ugboaja obtained a law degree from the University of Calabar in 1987. After about four years in private legal practice, he joined the trade union movement in 1993.
The NLC’s historical biography describes him as the first Nigerian lawyer to work full-time for a trade union.
Ugboaja’s career spanned private legal practice, trade unionism, civil-society advocacy and national policy engagement.
His death marks the loss of one of Nigeria’s prominent labour leaders and a key figure in the country’s organised labour movement.
