The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has spoken. From the sanctity of a state meeting, its President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, has decreed a nationwide protest for December 17th. The cause? Insecurity. A plague, we are told, that now affects “every Nigerian.” With solemn gravity, he outlines a vision of peaceful marches to “galvanise renewed commitment” from the government.
One reads this announcement not with solidarity, but with a profound, gut-wrenching bewilderment. Where is this newfound civic conscience when the primary, singular duty of the NLC lies bleeding at its feet?
While bandits annex our highways and terrorists lurk in our shadows, what has been the NLC’s most consistent battle cry? It is not for the millions of workers drowning in a stagnant national minimum wage, eroded into nothingness by hyperinflation. It is not for the pensioners who die on verification queues, betrayed after a lifetime of service. It is not for the systematic casualization of labour that has turned “worker” into a synonym for “modern slave.” It is not for the collapsing public healthcare and education that the workforce and their families are condemned to use.
No. The NLC has saved its most organised, nationally-coordinated action for a generic, all-encompassing “insecurity.”
Do not misunderstand; the security crisis is real. It is a nightmare that steals our sleep. But who feels the sharpest edge of this knife? Is it not the market woman who cannot travel to sell her wares? The farmer who abandons his field for fear of slaughter? The junior civil servant who cannot afford a safe home close to his office? Insecurity is, at its core, an economic and social catastrophe. Its solution is inextricably linked to economic justice, social welfare, and dignified work—the very domains the NLC has abandoned.
This protest is a spectacular dereliction of duty, wrapped in the flag of patriotism. It is a desperate, confusing attempt to appear statesmanlike while the union’s own house is a ruin. The government has security agencies, a national security advisor, and a defence budget. Who does the Nigerian worker have? They had one institution: the NLC. Today, that institution is announcing it would rather be a generic activist group than the fierce, unrelenting defender of wages and working conditions.
Where were these peaceful mass actions when salaries went unpaid for months in states across the federation? Where is the coordinated protest against the punishing fuel price removal that has shattered household budgets without commensurate wage adjustment? The NLC “engages in dialogue,” we are told. A dialogue that has led the Nigerian worker from poverty to destitution.
This protest is a dangerous distraction. It is a confusing signal that absolves the NLC of its tangible, contractual failures to its members by chasing an intangible, governmental responsibility. It is easier to shout “insecurity!” at a governor than to win a living wage from him. It is easier to mobilise citizens under the banner of collective fear than to mobilise workers under the banner of their collective, unmet rights.
To the citizens of Nigeria, the true sufferers on all fronts, we urge with every fibre of reason: IGNORE THIS CALL.
Do not lend your bodies and your anguish to a protest that is, at best, a misplacement of priority and, at worst, a cynical diversion. Let the NLC return to its post. Let it first confront the economic insecurity it was created to fight—the insecurity of a worthless paycheck, the terror of a future without pension, the kidnapping of our livelihoods by oppressive policies.
When the NLC leads a total, uncompromising shutdown for a National Minimum Wage that is a Living Wage, for Pension Justice, for an end to Casualisation—then, and only then, will it have the moral authority to lead us on any other national issue.
Until that day, this call is not an act of courage. It is a confession of failure. A bewildering, emotional spectacle that asks a drowning man to protest the rain while ignoring the anchor around his neck.
Let the NLC face its primary duty. We cannot afford to be bewildered anymore. We must be focused. And our focus must be on those who promised to fight for our bread and butter, but now wish only to give us a megaphone to shout about dangers they have done nothing to equip us to survive.
Stay home. Demand better from your union. Their protest is a noise. We need them to get back to work.
