Economic and Social Unrest: Nigerian Labourers Took to the Streets with Song, Dance, and a Final Warning

On Friday, workers gathered at various venues to commemorate the 2026 May Day, donning colourful attire, waving flags, and singing, despite the hardships they face, as they celebrated the essence of nation-building.

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Their joyful expressions, however, concealed the struggles they endure, which were revealed through their banners, placards, and collective speeches that told stories of hunger, government failures, and demands for a better life.

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The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, jointly expressed their determination to change the state of the working people, looking ahead to the 2027 general elections and advocating for a future built on democracy and social justice.

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They emphasized that workers are at the heart of every industry, economy, and success story, paraphrasing the International by arguing that without workers, no wheel can turn and no nation can be built.

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The May Day celebration, they said, marks the victory of workers' resilience despite unremitting adversity, honouring those who rise before dawn and return home at dusk, exhausted yet unbroken, and who create immense wealth yet receive only a fraction of it.

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The theme of the May Day, "Insecurity, Poverty – Bane of Decent Work," reflects the harsh realities Nigerians are facing, with labour arguing that there is a clear connection between insecurity, poverty, and decent work, and that as insecurity and poverty rise, the prospects of decent work diminish.

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The poverty rate of 65 percent in a 200 million population, they argued, can only increase if insecurity continues, and they are not surprised that the Nigerian workers' quality of life has deteriorated to its lowest ebb.

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Speaking directly to President Bola Tinubu, the workers recalled his words on the Shiroro and Anguwan Rukuba attacks, and expressed their concern over the ongoing insecurity in the country, which has resulted in the loss of lives, displacement of families, and kidnapping of citizens.

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They warned that workers may no longer go to work and that the unions might advise their members to limit their movement across the country, given the alarming levels of insecurity, with about 4 million Nigerians living in Internally Displaced Persons camps.

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The unions told the government that the time for decisive action is now, positing that the country is at war, and that Nigeria has become one of the most dangerous places to live in the universe, with weak governance frameworks, weakened democratic institutions, and erosion of the separation of powers and the rule of law.

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They pointed out that about 10,000 Nigerians are daily pushed into poverty, millions are in need of food, and thousands of internally displaced persons' camps now house millions of citizens forced from their homes, and that several state governments have refused to pay the N70,000 monthly National Minimum Wage Act.

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Labour warned that governance risks becoming an extractive enterprise, with an economy that serves only the top 1 percent, while leaving the 99 percent behind, and pointed out that over N10 trillion public funds have been transferred into the electricity sector without delivering stable electricity.

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They demanded a reversal of the electricity privatization programme and argued that with the Iran-US War resulting in a $50 per barrel increase, Nigeria should have raked in nearly $6 billion additional income, which could have been used to cushion the economic impact of the war on Nigerians.

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Using slogans like "Stop taxing the Minimum Wage! Stop taxing the Poor! Grant tax reliefs to cushion the effects of the Iran-USA/Israel conflict," they demanded "Free, liberatory education from cradle to career" and vowed to hold the three arms of government accountable through a "Stop the Bleeding" campaign.

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The labour centres declared their preference for peace over war, demanding an end to the Ukrainian and Iran-US wars, the return of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife from US captivity, independence of Western Sahara from Moroccan occupation, and an end to the US embargo against Cuba.

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The Nigerian workforce diagnosed the problems as a result of neo-liberalism, which has become overstretched and is in a decaying phase, where some powers employ war as a means of maintaining influence, and now require the needed political will to act on their demands.