Insecurity: NLC, TUC threaten nationwide strike

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) yesterday In Geneva, Switzerland have raised a fresh alarm over the escalating insecurity across the country, warning that Nigerian workers may be forced to remain at home if urgent measures are not taken to safeguard lives and property.

Addressing journalists at the 114th International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, the leadership of both labour centres described insecurity as the greatest threat to decent work, economic productivity and national development, saying the crisis had reached “frightening dimensions.”

The labour leaders said workers across the country now face daily risks simply by reporting to their places of work, as communities continue to come under attacks from armed groups, insurgents and criminal elements.

“In Nigeria, the crisis of insecurity has reached such frightening dimensions that workers now risk their very lives simply to report to duty,” the labour leaders said in a joint address. “Communities are being overrun, farmers chased from their fields, teachers abducted from their schools and beheaded, and health workers attacked in their clinics.”

According to the labour centres, insecurity is no longer a peripheral issue but the central challenge confronting workers and employers alike, warning that no economy can thrive where citizens live in constant fear of violence.

“No amount of policy rhetoric can create employment or protect labour rights where the most basic human right—the right to live—is not guaranteed,” the NLC and TUC stated, stressing that the protection of lives must become the government’s foremost priority.

The labour centres cited alarming casualty figures, claiming that nearly 2,000 Nigerians lost their lives in violent incidents during the first quarter of 2026, while millions have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods.

They noted that the security crisis has devastated agricultural production, disrupted commercial activities and crippled entire local economies, particularly in rural communities where farmers have abandoned their lands due to persistent attacks.

The unions warned that if the current trend continues unchecked, organised labour may be compelled to take extraordinary measures to protect workers from harm.

“If this continues unchecked, we may have no choice but to advise our members to stay at home, not as a strike, but as a desperate act of survival,” the labour leaders declared. They added that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) had already begun taking protective actions in some affected areas.

The warning comes amid growing concerns over the socioeconomic consequences of insecurity, which labour leaders say have worsened poverty and deepened the cost-of-living crisis facing ordinary Nigerians.

According to the NLC and TUC, approximately 65 per cent of Nigerians—estimated at about 150 million people—are currently trapped in multidimensional poverty, while an estimated 10,000 citizens are pushed below the poverty line every day.

The labour leaders argued that rising inflation, insecurity and declining purchasing power have combined to create what they described as a “crisis of survival,” with workers increasingly unable to afford transportation, food, housing and healthcare despite government assurances of economic recovery.

“The economy, quite simply, is not working for workers,” the unions said. “It is working for the top one per cent, while the ninety-nine per cent bleed.” They urged the Federal Government to immediately convene a national dialogue to address the worsening hardship facing citizens.

The NLC and TUC also called on political leaders preparing for the 2027 general elections to focus first on addressing insecurity before embarking on campaigns. The labour movement questioned the morality of seeking votes while many communities remain under siege from violence.

“We urge politicians to reflect on the security of the lives they want to rule,” the labour leaders said. “Is canvassing for votes in the midst of the huge loss of lives and properties morally acceptable?” They insisted that any political party seeking labour’s support must demonstrate concrete commitments to security, workers’ welfare, education and healthcare.

As the conference in Geneva continues, the labour movement said it would return to Nigeria with renewed determination to defend workers’ rights, but stressed that meaningful progress would remain impossible unless government takes decisive action to restore security across the country. “Nigeria can be saved,” the NLC and TUC declared. “But it can only be saved by us. Only together. Only now.”