By Sodiq Adelakun and Azeez Ismail
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and various civil society groups have held coordinated protests nationwide protesting against the insecurity ravaging the country.
These demonstrations, part of a broader nationwide movement, aimed to force both federal and state governments to move beyond rhetoric and implement practical measures to combat the rising tide of violent crimes, banditry, and kidnappings.
Despite high-level attempts by the presidency and the Forum of State Governors to engage labour leadership just 24 hours prior, the NLC proceeded with the action, signaling that recent talks had failed to provide the immediate security assurances demanded by the Nigerian workforce.
In Lagos, members converged early at the Ikeja underpass, marching peacefully in NLC-branded regalia while carrying placards that underscored the direct threat insecurity poses to workers’ livelihoods and national stability.
While security operatives were heavily deployed to monitor the route, the atmosphere remained orderly as participants chanted slogans demanding an end to a life of fear.
Union leaders emphasized that the protest was a necessary response to a cycle of broken promises, insisting that the government must fulfill its primary constitutional obligation to protect the lives and property of its citizens.
The momentum was mirrored in Osun State, where the local NLC chapter, led by Comrade Christopher Arapasopo, gathered at the Olaiya under-bridge in Osogbo to raise public awareness and issue a wake-up call to the authorities.
Arapasopo questioned the timing of the government’s last-minute invitations to labour leaders, noting that the notice for the protest had been public long before the eleventh-hour intervention.
Supporting this sentiment, Comrade Waheed Lawal of the Osun State Coalition of Civil Society argued that a single meeting at the Presidential Villa could not overnight stop the bandits or kidnappers terrorizing the people.
Collectively, the protesters maintained that without a secure environment, the government’s promises regarding citizen welfare remain unattainable, reiterating that Nigerians deserve a standard of security that matches the gravity of the current crisis.
