[4] The Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity has been in existence (with different names) since 1939, with the central purpose of ensuring cordial relations between workers and employers in the public and private sectors.
[12][13] The idea of a state initiated and centralized center to educate labour union members gained traction during the Third National Development Plan (1975 - 1980).
The democratic government of Shehu Shagari (1979 - 1983) built on the earlier initiatives and began planning for a training institute to be located at Ilorin in 1983.
[14] The main aims of the institute is to promote capacity building of workers and best practices and harmony in relationships between labour unions and management.
This is achieved through research and collaboration with tertiary institutions within the country, consultancy, seminars, conferences, lectures on labour union administration, provision of grants to scholars and publication of journals and working papers.
To promote its mission of capacity building, certificate and diploma awarding courses were established at the institute,[14] in addition, focus on communications and information technology training has led to the construction of a dedicated center for ICT.
[16] MINILS programmes are offered both on full and part-time basis that award Professional Certificate In Industrial And Labour Relations (PCILR), National Diplomas at main campus, its distant learning centres, as well as on e-learning platform.