The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday vowed to mobilise millions of workers for nationwide protests and declare a national day of mourning as kidnappings and violent attacks escalate across the country.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, speaking at the opening of the Congress’ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos, said the country was “under siege” and warned that the labour movement would not sit idly while criminal gangs overrun communities, abduct schoolchildren and kill workers.
A visibly angry Ajaero said the recent abduction of schoolchildren, following the sudden withdrawal of security operatives from their school, raised troubling questions about possible internal sabotage.
“Never again shall we watch kidnappers and bandits take over this country,” he declared.
“We want to know who ordered the withdrawal of security personnel from that school. We want to know whether the security architecture has been compromised.”
He said the worker killed during the attack was a teacher, stressing that thousands of workers nationwide had suffered the same fate, with families left to raise millions in ransom.
Ajaero said the NEC would make a formal declaration on the planned day of mourning and mass protests, insisting that Nigerians must rise to reclaim their country from criminal syndicates.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, who also addressed the gathering, warned that Nigeria was drifting into a full-blown security collapse, with school abductions and violent attacks increasingly becoming the norm.
Falana criticised recent comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump and cautioned against foreign military intervention, which he described as a threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty.
He cited the destabilising effects of America’s past interventions in Afghanistan, Libya and other conflict zones.
“We want the world to know that we are not a conquered people,” Falana said, urging civil society groups and labour unions to be prepared for nationwide mobilisation if insecurity worsens.
Ajaero also announced the withdrawal of labour representatives from the Labour Party (LP), accusing them of pursuing personal interests rather than representing workers.
He further condemned what he described as the worsening failure of the power sector despite successive tariff hikes, noting that deregulation had not delivered the promised 24-hour electricity supply.
“Three years after deregulation, where are we?” he asked.
The NLC President also urged politicians to avoid inflaming the polity and pressed the Federal Government to honour agreements in the education and health sectors to avert further strikes.
As the NEC meeting continues, the NLC said details of its national protest plan and mourning day will be unveiled “soonest,” warning that labour would no longer tolerate a country where citizens live in fear of kidnappers, terrorists and armed gangs..
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