NLC urges resilient leadership amid rising insecurity

The Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday urged workers to cultivate resilient and strategic leadership to navigate the twin challenges of rising insecurity and systemic exploitation in the country.

The announcement followed the opening address by President Comrade Joe Ajaero of the NLC at the 2025 Harmattan School, held at Top Rank Hotel, Utako, Abuja, on 24 November.

The Harmattan School, a forum for educating and mobilising the nation’s workforce, brought together participants from across Nigeria to debate the theme “Workers’ Rights in the Context of Global Economic Crises and Technological Advancement”.

In his address, the union leader drew attention to the dual pressures confronting Nigerian workers: intensifying workplace exploitation and the gradual erosion of political and social rights.

He pointed to instances of rights violations in major corporations, including the Dangote Group and the NLNG Train 7 project, warning that these cases exemplify a broader pattern of exploitation that threatens the welfare of workers nationwide.

“Monopoly capital is operating as a state within a state, crushing trade union rights and treating workers as disposable inputs in vast profit-making machines,” Ajaero stated. He further cautioned against legal reforms and special economic zones being proposed by the government, describing them as efforts to codify class-based exploitation.

Beyond workplace exploitation, the NLC president linked technological advancement and global capital interests to Nigeria’s rising insecurity.

He noted that violence, kidnappings, and general lawlessness are driven by the scramble for the country’s mineral resources, such as lithium, tin, and cobalt, framing insecurity as a deliberate strategy to facilitate resource extraction. States including Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Benue, Kogi, Kwara, and Plateau were cited as major theatres of this resource-driven unrest.

The labour leader also raised concerns about attempts to control social security institutions, including the National Social Insurance Trust Fund and the Pensions Commission, warning that such moves threaten to plunder collective workers’ savings.

He urged participants of the Harmattan School to go beyond academic learning, emphasising the need for practical strategies to defend workers’ rights, engage emerging legal and political challenges, and respond to national insecurity.

The school’s courses on women’s leadership, organising, education, and leadership are intended to equip workers with the tools to become seasoned cadres capable of leading organised resistance and reclaiming the nation from systemic decay.

Ajaero concluded by calling for solidarity among workers, progressive intelligentsia, and poor peasants, highlighting that only a united working class can effectively address the crises facing Nigeria today.

The NLC commended the organisers, speakers, and facilitators for their efforts in making the 2025 Harmattan School a platform for strategic learning and mobilisation, with plans to reconvene in 2026.