The General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Emmanuel Ugboaja, has died at the age of 60 following a prolonged illness.

Ugboaja reportedly died on Thursday, August 27, 2026. Details surrounding his death were still unclear as of the time of filing this report.

His death was announced during a meeting of the NLC National Executive Council in Enugu State, where NLC President Joe Ajaero read a letter from the deceased’s family to members of the council.

Ugboaja was the fifth General Secretary of the NLC and had spent decades in the labour movement, rising through the ranks of organised labour and civil society.

He began his union career with the National Union of Chemical, Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees, an affiliate of the NLC. He served as the union’s General Secretary from 2000 to 2005.

Between 2006 and 2009, he was the Coordinator of Advocacy and Mobilisation at the Alliance for Credible Elections before joining the NLC Secretariat in 2009.

The late labour leader also participated in key national political and constitutional reform initiatives. He was a delegate to the 2005 Political/Constitutional Reform Conference convened by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the 2014 Constitution Review Conference under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In August 2019, Ugboaja was appointed General Secretary of the NLC, succeeding Peter Ozo-Eson. His appointment was ratified by the NLC National Executive Council at its meeting in Kano on August 21, 2019.

With a legal background and extensive experience in trade unionism, civil-society advocacy and policy negotiations, Ugboaja was widely regarded as a prominent figure in Nigeria’s organised labour movement.

His death comes as a major loss to the NLC and the wider labour community, where he played a key role in workers’ rights advocacy and national policy engagement.