The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to tackle insecurity and strengthen the naira to between ₦700 and ₦800 to the dollar, warning that persistent insecurity and exchange-rate pressures are undermining Nigeria’s economic growth.
TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, made the call on Wednesday while briefing journalists in Abuja after the union’s National Executive Council meeting.
Osifo said Nigeria had been grappling with insecurity for more than a decade, with kidnapping and killings becoming a persistent threat across several parts of the country.
He argued that the security crisis was making it increasingly difficult to attract both foreign and domestic investment, thereby limiting the country’s economic prospects.
“Without a stable country, there will be no economic progress,” the TUC president said, urging the Federal Government to provide security agencies with adequate funding, equipment and other resources required to confront terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.
The labour leader also renewed the TUC’s call for stronger exchange-rate management, insisting that the naira remained undervalued despite recent improvements in the foreign exchange market.
Osifo said the exchange rate remained central to the rising cost of goods and services, including the price of petrol.
“We cannot be tired of talking about the exchange rate because it is central to literally everything. Today, the official rate is just a little above ₦1,300 to the USD, but we see that the government can still do better,” he said.
He said the government should work towards moving the naira to between ₦700 and ₦800 per dollar, which he described as a more appropriate value.
“We commend CBN Governor Cardoso for the great work he is doing at the Central Bank, but we can still do much more because we still believe that ₦1,300 to $1 is still undervalued,” Osifo said.
According to him, the TUC had made the exchange rate a central component of a 15-point demand presented to the Federal Government in 2024.
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He maintained that while the naira had previously been overvalued when it traded around ₦400 to the dollar, its current level was still below what he described as its appropriate value.
“From all international commentators, from economic think tanks, both local and international, and from scholars, currently our naira is undervalued and is not trading at the strength it should,” he said.
On security, Osifo said the government needed to increase funding for the sector and consider moving resources from other areas of the budget to strengthen the fight against terrorism, banditry and kidnapping.
He said the country could not fully benefit from investments in infrastructure, power and education if citizens were not sufficiently protected.
“So the protection of life and property should be paramount to any government. Yes, we could see that a lot is being done, but we are encouraging them to do much more,” he said.
Osifo specifically cited continued kidnapping and killings in parts of Plateau, Zamfara, Borno and Katsina states, as well as other parts of the country.
He described kidnapping as a criminal enterprise that continues to thrive in some communities and called for sustained operations to dismantle the networks behind the attacks.
The TUC president also commended the Department of State Services for recent arrests and convictions linked to security offences, urging the agency and other security institutions to sustain the momentum.
He equally commended the National Security Adviser and security personnel for their efforts, while calling for greater resources to enable them to confront the threats.
Osifo condemned the recent incident in Niger State that resulted in the deaths of about 37 people in the custody of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
He described the incident as an aberration and welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to constitute a committee to investigate the matter.
However, he warned that the committee’s findings should not be allowed to gather dust, insisting that anyone found culpable should face the law regardless of their position.
“We are quite happy that the government immediately swung into action by setting up a committee, but we don’t want the committee’s report to just be another report gathering dust,” he said.
“Whoever is culpable, no matter how highly placed, must be decisively dealt with according to the letter and spirit of the law.”
Meanwhile, the TUC president expressed sympathy with families of security personnel who recently lost their lives in various incidents, including one of the pilots who, according to him, had married only weeks before his death.
On the ongoing dispute involving members of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), Osifo said the TUC had resolved to write to the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare to expedite action on the workers’ demands.
He said the congress would continue to engage relevant government authorities in seeking solutions to outstanding labour and welfare issues.
The TUC’s latest position comes amid its broader calls for improved workers’ welfare, stronger economic management and intensified government action to restore security across the country.
