Follow Us on Google
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday staged a nationwide protest over worsening insecurity across the country, marching from the NLC Secretariat, Labour House, to the Federal Ministry of Finance in Abuja to demand urgent government action.
Labour leaders said the protest was not driven by partisan or sectional interests but by a collective resolve to rescue Nigeria from deepening insecurity threatening lives, livelihoods, and national stability.
Although workers, affiliate unions, civil society organisations, and journalists began arriving at Labour House before 7:30 a.m., the demonstration formally commenced between 11:15 a.m. and 11:39 a.m., after protesters waited for direction from labour leaders following a prolonged closed-door meeting involving NLC President Joe Ajaero and other top officials, which was still ongoing as at press time.
The meeting followed an earlier engagement between NLC leaders and President Bola Tinubu over the planned protest, demonstrating labour’s preference for dialogue while sustaining pressure through peaceful mass action.
Hundreds of workers clustered within and around the Labour House premises before marching to the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The protest attracted leaders of NLC affiliate unions and civil society groups, including Omoyele Sowore and members of the Revolution Now Movement.
Addressing workers, Deputy General Secretary of the NLC, Ismail Bello, said the protest was about national survival and the collective wellbeing of Nigerians.
He lamented the enormous toll of insecurity on Nigerians, noting that entire communities had been destroyed and livelihoods wiped out.
Bello reaffirmed labour’s constitutional right to peaceful protest, warning that no authority could silence workers.
“What we are doing today is not just for the benefit of workers alone; it is for the benefit of all Nigerians. As citizens, we have surrendered our sovereignty to government in the hope that they will secure lives, protect citizens and run the economy in a way that benefits the majority of our people, not just a few politicians.
“We are reminding the world of the calamity that has befallen many communities and many workers; healthcare workers, nurses, teachers, transport workers and others. The damage is enormous, and it has to stop.
Other News
“We are here on the streets reminding government that nobody can gag us from exercising our right to freedom of association and freedom of assembly,” Bello said.
Calling for decisive action against kidnappers and criminal networks, the Gen Sec argued that failure to punish perpetrators had emboldened insecurity nationwide.
“People must return to normalcy. They should live in their communities. Children should return to school. Teachers and students must be protected. Our constitution guarantees that. All government needs to do is to deploy all the powers and machinery of governance to recover all spaces that have been taken over by criminals,” he added.
Also speaking, Head of the International Department of the NLC, Uche Ekwe, said the protest was aimed at strengthening the government’s resolve to confront insecurity head-on.
“If government is truly committed, we want to strengthen their hands. Those funding insecurity must be arrested and dealt with. If they think they are powerful, they should face the Nigerian people,” Ekwe said.
The NLC said Nigeria’s insecurity crisis, which has persisted for nearly two decades, has been marked by terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping, with devastating consequences for workers, families, and the national economy.
Labour disclosed that since 2009, over 2,295 teachers have been killed by insurgents and bandits, while more than 19,000 teachers have been displaced in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states. It added that more than 910 schools were destroyed, forcing about 1,500 learning centres to shut down or be converted into camps for internally displaced persons.
In the health sector, the NLC said about 35 per cent of healthcare facilities had been destroyed by terrorism, while 50 per cent became inaccessible in the North-East. It noted that dozens of health workers were kidnapped or killed between 2021 and 2024, worsening the country’s shortage of medical professionals.
Labour further linked insecurity to deep-rooted socio-economic injustice, inequality, corruption, and poor funding of education and health sectors, warning that the economic cost was staggering. It cited an estimated N300 billion loss during the 30 days of the JOHESU strike as evidence of systemic failure.
According to the NLC, the protest marked a turning point, as labour demanded concrete reforms, including making Chapter Two of the Constitution justiciable, strengthening transparent security trust funds, accelerating prosecution of corrupt officials, reforming the judiciary, protecting public spaces, and addressing inequality through wage justice.
The Congress described the protest as the starting point of reclaiming Nigeria from the jaws of insecurity and beginning genuine national healing, insisting that the struggle was ultimately about safeguarding the future of all Nigerians.
