Bolt, Uber officially recognised as FG registers informal sector trade union

The Federal Government has presented a letter of approval of registration to an informal sector trade union, the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transport Workers of Nigeria (AUATWON). The membership of the new union comprised of all app-based transport workers, online transport services, and e-hailing drivers and operators in Nigeria, which includes bolt and Uber drivers. Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige who made the presentation on Tuesday in Abuja, described the registration of the new union as a milestone in labour administration, particularly in the trade union services segment, adding that it marks a continued global journey to formalise the informal sector, which constitute the larger population in the world of work. The minister noted that before now, the informal sector had been unmanageable, owing to lack of identifiable structural framework to harmonise and demarcate its diverse sectors.

He said: “Hitherto, we gave recognition and certification to workers in the formal sector, including the private sector, such as banks, oil and gas, insurance, among other technical areas, and the public sector workers in the unions of pensioners, teachers and recently, the two newly registered university based unions, the Congress for University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dentral Academics (NAMDA).