Nigeria Labour Congress Announce 17 December Nationwide Protest, More Details

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has declared a nationwide mass protest scheduled for Thursday, December 17, 2025, directing all its state councils and affiliates to ensure full mobilization. This major civic action is a direct response to the “degenerating security situation” and the severe humanitarian crisis stemming from persistent insecurity, particularly the alarming surge in school abductions across the country.

The decision was formalized following the NLC’s National Executive Council (NEC)-in-Session meeting held on December 4, 2025, at the union’s Sub-Secretariat in Yaba, Lagos. The NEC communiqué expressed deep worry over the rampant activities of bandits and kidnappers, criticizing what it views as the federal government’s failure to take adequate measures to secure lives and property.

The labour group singled out the November 17 abduction of female students from a boarding school in Kebbi State, an incident that reportedly also resulted in the deaths of two staff members. The NLC conveyed outrage over reports suggesting that security personnel were withdrawn from the school premises shortly before the attack, denouncing the incident as a “dastardly and criminal” act.

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Key Demands and Concerns

The NLC’s protest is intended to force immediate and comprehensive government action on several critical national issues:

1. Immediate Investigation into Security Lapses: The union demands an immediate and thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged withdrawal of security personnel from the Kebbi State school, alongside the prompt prosecution of all individuals found responsible for the security breach.
2. Securing Educational Institutions: The NLC stressed that the government has failed to adequately secure schools, especially those located in remote and fringe areas, leaving innocent pupils, students, and their teachers vulnerable to attacks. The union called for an end to the “dangerous and unacceptable level” of kidnappings targeting schoolchildren.
3. Wider Socioeconomic Issues: Beyond insecurity, the NEC meeting also addressed broader national crises. The union cited worsening economic pressures, pointing to alarming poverty rates, estimated by the World Bank’s October 2025 Nigeria Development Update to affect roughly 139 million people (61 to 62 per cent of the population).
4. Education and Health Sector Crisis: The NLC also highlighted the persistent crisis in tertiary education, citing decaying infrastructure and unpaid staff allowances, in addition to expressing solidarity with the ongoing strike by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).

The Nigeria Labour Congress has instructed all affiliate bodies and civil society allies to collaborate fully to ensure the success and widespread participation in the December 17 protest, signaling that organized labour will no longer tolerate the current state of national insecurity and economic hardship.