Official online lookupRatified ILO C181
Recruitment agency licensing in Nigeria
Licensing authority: Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, which licenses recruiters and private employment agencies.3,4
How to check an agency in Nigeria
The National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) publishes a paginated list of Registered Private Employment Agencies showing each agency's name, email, CAC verification status and an Active marker. The page does not show licence numbers, categories, expiry dates or when it was last updated.4
Who needs a licence
The Ministry says recruiters must be licensed by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to function as recruiters or private employment agencies, with separate application forms for domestic and international placement. Its NELEX page says the licence is for a company that employs workers with a view to making them available to a third party, and cites sections 23, 24, 25, 71 and 88 of the Labour Act.3,4
Licence conditions
The Ministry page lists a payment of 5,000 naira before approval and 200,000 naira after approval for each of category 1 and category 2. It does not state how long a licence is valid.3
Reporting an unlicensed agency
The Ministry recruiters licence page gives admin@nelexnigeria.com for reporting suspected fraud.3
ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention (C181)
Main law
Checked 28 October 2026. This page describes the licensing system. It does not list or rate individual agencies.
Sources
- International Labour Organization, Case study on the ratification of Convention 181: ILO in Nigeria (12 December 2023)
- Government of the Netherlands, Treaty Database, Convention concerning Private Employment Agencies, Geneva, 19-06-1997 (29 January 2026)
- Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Recruiters Licence
- National Electronic Labour Exchange, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Recruiters License