‘Esusu cooperative’ as a means of extending social protection to the Nigerian informal economy

In Nigeria, a significant number of the active labour force exists within the informal economy. For these workers, decent work remains elusive. They are mostly unprotected by existing legal framework and lack basic work rights. One of such right is access to social protection. This lack of access to ‘social protection’, especially as it relates to their means of livelihood, results in exclusion and marginalisation, and violates the principles of social justice. However, the high financial and structural costs of providing the basic forms of social protection inhibits the Nigerian government from extending social protection to informal workers, even though they constitute the larger percentage of the national workforce. This therefore necessitates an innovative solution that extends social protection to informal workers, and at the same time is independent of the capacity limitations of the government. Based on a desktop research methodology, this article finds that Esusu cooperatives – an informal cooperative system popular among informal workers– represents an existing and functional structure through which social protection can be extended to Nigerian informal workers. Consequently, it is recommended that the ‘Esusu Cooperative system’ should be adopted and restructured as a means of extending social protection to informal workers.