Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) - Nigeria (Ratification: 1960)

Articles 1(1) and 2(2) of the Convention. Freedom to leave the service of the State. For a number of years, the Committee has been referring to section 11 of the Terms and Conditions of Service, Nigerian Army Officers (1984), as well as section 17(10) of the Police Act, Cap. 359 under which restrictions on certain persons to resign may be imposed. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the application in practice of these provisions pending their amendment.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, currently, regulations governing the conditions of resignation for officers in the Armed Forces and the Police include the Nigeria Armed Forced Act, Cap. 2006, the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Services of the Armed Forces, and the Police Act, Cap. 359. The Government indicates that a Committee has been set up to review the relevant provisions in order to bring them in line with the Convention. The Government also states that information on the number and circumstances of accepted and refused applications for resignation by the military or police officers, as well as the reasons for refusal, will be provided to the Committee once received from the Human Resources Unit of the Armed Forces and the Police. In this regard, the Committee once again recalls that career military servicemen and other persons in the service of the State, who have voluntarily entered into an engagement, should have the right to leave the service in peacetime within a reasonable period, either at specified intervals, or with previous notice (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 290). The Committee therefore expresses its firm hope that the review of the relevant legislation will result in the amendment of the abovementioned provisions in the near future, in order to bring them into conformity with the Convention. Pending the amendment, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of these provisions in practice, including the numbers and circumstances of accepted or refused applications to resign by military and police staff, as well as the reasons for refusal. The Committee also requests the Government to supply copies of regulations governing resignation of officers in the armed forces.