Tinubu to workers: Strikes should be last resort

•Insecurity, poverty threaten decent jobs

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

As labour unions threaten nationwide strikes over unpaid wages and deteriorating living conditions, President Bola Tinubu on Friday, declared insecurity and poverty as a national emergency crippling workers’ productivity and livelihoods, calling for dialogue over industrial action.

Speaking through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, at the 2026 Workers’ Day event in Abuja’s Eagle Square, Tinubu aligned his address with the International Labour Organisation’s Decent Work Agenda theme.

In a statement by Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yomi Odunuga, President Tinubu told thousands of workers and labour leaders, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), that “there cannot be decent work where workers fear for their lives or where wages cannot feed a family.”

The plea comes amid escalating strike tensions, with NLC and TUC recently issuing ultimatums over minimum wage implementation delays and rising insecurity disrupting farms, factories, and markets, which are some of the issues the workers noted, have fuelled job losses and hunger despite government interventions.

Tinubu acknowledged these as “significant obstacles” to a peaceful Nigeria, where citizens can “sleep with their eyes closed,” but insisted his Renewed Hope Agenda is delivering results.

He highlighted the Community Protection Guards Initiative, recruiting 45,000 youths for community security and job creation, alongside expanded cash transfers to 15 million households, lifting 7.5 million from poverty.

Tinubu explained that infrastructure like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline have generated over 600,000 jobs, while workers’ welfare measures include a new national minimum wage, cleared pension arrears, gratuity payments from January 2026, micro pensions for 800,000 informal workers, and a N200 billion MSME fund.

Yet, in a direct appeal to striking-prone unions, Tinubu warned: “Strike should be the last resort, not the first,” urging them to sustain dialogue and exercise restraint in industrial disputes while commending security forces whose sacrifices have improved safety for economic growth.

The President reaffirmed multi-pronged anti-poverty efforts, including the National Agricultural Growth Scheme-Agro-pocket (NAGS-AP), Dry Season Farming Schemes, Mechanisation Drives, Post-Harvest Management, Bank of Agriculture support, and 10,000 NSCDC Agro-Rangers protecting farmers in 19 states.