Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

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 legislative provisions imposing restrictions on certain persons to resign (such as army officers, police officers or navy personnel). It noted the Government’s information that regulations governing the conditions of resignation for officers in the armed forces and the Police include the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Services of the Armed Forces, and the Police Act, Cap. 359 and that a Committee had been set up to review the relevant provisions of these texts.

The Government indicates in its report that the Police Act was amended in 2020. According to section 127 of the Police Act of 2020, a traffic warden appointed under this Act may at any time submit a notice in writing to any senior police officer, of his intention to resign on a date mentioned in the notice which is not less than 28 days later than the date of submission of the notice. The Committee takes due note of section 127 of the Police Act of 2020 but observes that it refers only to traffic wardens.

The Committee further observes that the Government has not provided any information concerning the provisions under the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Services of the Armed Forces that relate to the conditions of resignation for officers of the armed forces. 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 once again requests the Government to provide information on the provisions governing the conditions of resignation for officers of the armed forces as well as for officers other than traffic wardens (under the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Services of the Armed Forces, the Police Act of 2020, or any other relevant legislation). The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the numbers and circumstances of accepted or refused applications to resign by military personnel and police staff, as well as the reasons for refusal. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to supply copies of regulations governing resignation of officers in the armed forces, including the Harmonized Terms and Conditions of Services of the Armed Forces, 2017.