The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged Nigerians to make workers’ welfare and economic accountability major considerations in the 2027 general elections, warning political parties against pursuing economic policies that deepen poverty and undermine workers’ livelihoods.
The Congress said the ballot box must become an extension of the struggle for better wages and working conditions, stressing that workers must use their voting power to hold political leaders accountable for decisions affecting their economic wellbeing.
NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, made the call on Thursday at the third annual Labour Conference of the Labour Correspondents’ Association of Nigeria (LACAN) in Abuja.
Ajaero, who was represented by the Assistant General Secretary of the NLC, Comrade Chris Onyeka, urged labour correspondents to scrutinise the economic programmes of political parties and demand clear explanations of how their policies would improve workers’ living conditions.
He said the approaching 2027 elections and forthcoming negotiations on a new national minimum wage presented an opportunity to examine the relationship between economic policies, workers’ rights and the future of employment in Nigeria.
According to him, the future of work goes beyond technological advancement to include questions of economic ownership, distribution of wealth, workers’ rights and access to social protection.
“The NLC insists that the future of work must be defined by the working class itself; a future anchored in social protection, fair recruitment, and the right to organise, not one dictated by the profit-maximising logic of capital,” he said.
The labour centre expressed concern over the growing prevalence of informal employment, casualisation and platform-based jobs, noting that many workers in these categories face unstable earnings, job insecurity and inadequate social protection.
It warned that economic reforms designed to achieve stability by suppressing wages would worsen workers’ hardship rather than promote sustainable recovery.
“Minimum wage is not a charitable gesture; it is the price of labour power, and any economic reform that suppresses wages in the name of ‘stabilisation’ is a reform against the worker, not for the economy,” the Congress stated.
Ajaero said the labour movement’s struggle for a living wage must extend beyond negotiations with employers and government to the choices Nigerians make during elections.
“As we approach the new national minimum wage negotiation and the 2027 general elections, the NLC and LACAN must jointly interrogate the concept of the future of work: what does it mean for a Nigerian worker if the future holds no pension, no job security, and no collective voice?
“The answer is clear; it means the future of work is a political question, and it must be answered at the ballot box and the bargaining table,” he said.
The NLC challenged journalists to look beyond campaign promises and investigate the practical implications of proposed economic policies for workers, unemployed Nigerians and low-income households.
It urged LACAN to ensure that labour issues remained prominent in national discussions, particularly policies and practices capable of undermining the interests of ordinary citizens.
The Congress also called for stronger engagement between the association and the Nigeria Union of Journalists, maintaining that the protection of journalists’ rights and press freedom was inseparable from the broader struggle for workers’ rights.
Reaffirming its support for LACAN, the NLC urged labour correspondents to embrace people-centred journalism that gives greater attention to casualised workers, the unemployed and households struggling with rising living costs.
It maintained that workers must actively participate in shaping the political and economic decisions affecting their lives to prevent their interests from being sacrificed in the pursuit of policies driven primarily by profit.
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