Overview

Originally published in 1974 and with a new introduction for the 1981 edition, this book is a clear and vivid history of the role of organized labour in the politics of Nigeria. It covers the period from the first General Strike of 1945 to the civil war and reintegration of the country. As well as providing an analysis of the characteristics and attitudes of Nigeria’s wage earners, this study is concerned with their place in the wider political and social life of the country. The attempts of the trade unions to create a representative central labour organisation are considered, as is the internal structure of the unions themselves. The book also examines the relationship of the Unions with the political parties of the first Republic and later with the Military Government. The influence of the trade unions in the determination of wage rates is analysed. The book concludes with an overview of trade unions in other parts of Africa with which the performance and characteristics of organized labour in Nigeria are compared

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9781032703275

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Reviews

Reviews of the original edition of Labour and Politics in Nigeria: [A book] of ‘high intellectual and literary quality which can be recommended as essential reading not only for Nigerian labour specialists but for general student of Nigerian society and politics’ – Richard Jeffries African Affairs, 73 (293) 1974. ‘On the whole this excellent study, rich in detail and incisive in its interdisciplinary and analytical presentation, demonstrates a work of first-rate scholarship.’ – Bernard A. Nkemdirem Journal of Modern African Studies, 13 (2) 1975. ‘The book is important, because it does not retreat from the political, social, and economic complexity of Nigeria, but rather honestly presents the analytical problems facing the observer. … Cohen skillfully uses existing literature on Nigeria and relevant social, political and economic theory to complement his own fieldwork to convince the reader of the limits of available theory and empirical analysis’ Michael A. Cohen, ASA Review of Books, 1976. ‘Robin Cohen has written the definitive work on Nigerian trade unions, their history, their political role, their economic power. It will be a standard reference work, and scholars doing similar studies in other countries could do worse than take it as a model. Certainly, it is the best survey of the role of the labour movement written for any African country’. John Weeks, International Affairs, 1975.

Author Information

Robin Cohen is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies at the University of Oxford. For the first decade of his academic career, he worked on comparative labour issues. His books included Labour and Politics in Nigeria (1974) and the co-edited collections The development of an African working class (1975), International Labour and the Third World (1987), African Labor History (1978) and the current title, Peasants and Proletarians. He subsequently wrote on the themes of migration, globalization and diasporas. His best-known work is Global diasporas: An introduction (3rd edition, 2022).

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