How To Register A Trade Union In Nigeria

A trade union is an organization made up of members and its membership must be made up mainly of workers. Its main aim is to protect and advance the interests of its members in the workplace. Trade Unions Act is the main legislation regulating trade unions in Nigeria. The Act makes provisions for the formation, registration, and organization of trade unions, federation of trade unions and the central labour organisation. Section 2 of the Trade Unions Act makes it a mandate for a trade union to be registered. The section further prohibits the operation of an unregistered trade union except for the purposes connected with having the union registered.

Procedure

1. To Register a Trade Union in person, the applicant has to visit any nearest office of the Registrar of Trade Unions in his/her state of residence.
2. Visit the office and get an application form for registering a Trade Union from the relevant department.
3. Complete the application form with appropriate information under relevant sections. Attest it with your signature once completed.
4. Once completed filling the application form, make sure that you have attached all the Required Documents.
5. Then, submit it in person to the relevant authority at the office.
6. After submission, the application for registration duly signed is sent to the Registrar of Trade Unions stating the proposed name and reasons why the Trade Union wants to be established.
7. Recommendation of the application is made to the Honorable minister for conferment of approval. Please note that approval is only given after ensuring that the application and rules of the proposed union have been satisfied.
8. Then, a publication of notice of application is made in the Federal Government’s Official Gazette for a period of three months. (During this period, objection to the registration of the trade union can be made in writing to the Registrar of Trade Union).
9. The next step is consideration of objections raised towards the registration of the union if any.

   • If there are credible objections, the Registrar shall notify the applicant accordingly and shall take no further action in relation thereto until the application has been amended to his satisfaction or a fresh application is made.
   • If objections are found baseless, Registrar shall go ahead to register the Trade Union.

10. In the latter case, the Trade Union is duly registered and a certificate of registration is issued to the duly registered union.
11. However, If the Registrar refuses to register the union, he will send to the applicant, a notice stating the grounds of refusal and specifying the date from which the time for appealing against the refusal is to run, and also publish this in the Federal Gazette. Any official or member of the union may, within the period of thirty days beginning with the date so specified, appeal to the appropriate court against the refusal.

Required Documents

• Two (2) copies of the association’s constitution/registered rules.
• Minutes of general meeting where decision was taken.
• List of attendants with signatures, address, age and occupation of each of the persons by whom the application is signed.
• List of association’s officials with official title, address, age, and occupation of each official.
• Duly completed form from the office of registrar of trade unions (RTU).