Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have begun converging at the NLC National Secretariat in Abuja as part of a nationwide protest against the worsening insecurity across the country.
Leading the gathering is the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, alongside civil society partners. Prominent among those present is Omoyele Sowore and members of the Revolution Now Movement. Security agencies, including the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), have also been deployed to maintain order.
Ajaero reaffirmed that the protest would proceed as planned, describing it as “sacrosanct” and necessary to draw urgent attention to the country’s growing security crisis.
“I am not aware of any contrary position that the protest is not holding. Until such information exists, the protest stands,” Ajaero said shortly after paying a courtesy visit to the Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum and Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya. “This protest is to help the country by calling attention to the devastating impact of insecurity.”
He lamented the far-reaching consequences of insecurity on Nigeria’s economy, noting that it is discouraging both local and foreign investment. According to him, the persistent threat to lives and property has made the country increasingly unattractive to investors.
The NLC President explained that the protest is intended to awaken the government to its constitutional responsibility to address worsening economic hardship, insecurity, banditry, and other social ills confronting Nigerians.
Highlighting the toll on workers and ordinary citizens, Ajaero said kidnappings and killings have become alarmingly frequent. “Workers are being kidnapped daily, and people are being killed. In Kebbi State, a teacher was recently murdered.
The children being kidnapped are children of workers,” he stated. “Government must act decisively to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Call for ‘Insecurity Allowance’
While urging all Nigerians to contribute to reversing the country’s negative trajectory, Ajaero called for a complete overhaul of the nation’s value system.
He described banditry and kidnapping for ransom as practices that are alien to Nigeria’s cultural and moral foundations.
In a striking remark, the NLC President suggested that workers may soon require an “insecurity allowance” to cope with the grim realities they face. “Many workers who are kidnapped have to borrow money or depend on others to pay ransom for their release,” he said. “It has reached a point where we are forced to raise our voices in the only way available to us.”
Ajaero emphasized that the protest represents the labour movement’s contribution to national security, stressing that workers are unarmed and powerless to confront criminals directly. “This is our way of telling Nigerians and the international community that this situation must stop,” he said.
“This culture of banditry and insecurity is not Nigerian,” Ajaero concluded. “We must condemn it collectively, strengthen the hands of those in authority, and ensure that this menace does not continue.”
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