By JKNewsMedia
CALLS FOR urgent government action on workers’ welfare intensified as Nigeria marked International Workers Day (IWD) 2026, with Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) pressing authorities to confront worsening socioeconomic conditions.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the organisation, in a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its Media and Communications Officer Robert Egbe, said the commemoration comes as workers face soaring living costs, stagnant wages and deteriorating social protections that continue to erode dignity, productivity and quality of life.
“May Day should not be reduced to ceremonial speeches,” CAPPA Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi said. “It must be a moment of reckoning.
“For millions of Nigerian workers, survival has become a daily negotiation with inflation, rising rents, and shrinking real incomes.”
Also, the group highlighted a deepening housing crisis in major urban centres such as Lagos, Abuja and Rivers State, noting that accommodation costs have surged beyond the reach of average earners, leaving many priced out of cities.
It expressed concern over media reports of university lecturers and other public sector workers resorting to sleeping in offices and on campuses because they cannot afford rent close to their workplaces.
“That Nigeria’s educators, entrusted with shaping the nation’s future, are compelled to sleep in their offices is an indictment of our economic priorities,” Oluwafemi said. “It underscores a broader housing emergency that demands urgent, coordinated intervention.”
CAPPA also criticised the Federal Government’s decision to approve land allocation to political appointees who are yet to serve the country.
“Ambassadors and High Commissioners designate are part of the political and administrative elite. Providing them with land allocations, most likely in prime areas of Abuja raises questions about who benefits from public assets,” the group stated.
“In a period defined by acute housing stress for ordinary Nigerians, government decisions on land use must visibly prioritise broad public need over elite benefit. Anything less risks deepening public distrust.”
While acknowledging efforts to review the national minimum wage, CAPPA said wage adjustments alone are insufficient without measures to curb inflation, regulate housing costs and expand access to essential services.
“An increase in wages that is immediately swallowed by rent hikes, transport costs, and food inflation offers little real relief,” the statement said. “What workers need is a comprehensive framework that aligns income with the actual cost of living.”
The organisation drew attention to what it described as the declining state of public services including healthcare, education and transportation, which it said imposes additional financial burdens on workers who turn to private alternatives.
It warned that continued commercialisation of basic services risks widening inequality and pushing more Nigerians into precarious living conditions.
CAPPA called for a national housing strategy that prioritises affordable rental schemes and curbs speculative practices in urban property markets.
It also demanded stronger labour protections, enforcement of fair wage standards across public and private sectors, targeted social investments in healthcare, education and public transport, and fiscal policies that prioritise public welfare, including health promoting taxes and reinvestment of revenues into social services.
“Workers are the backbone of any economy. When they are pushed to the margins, the entire system weakens,” the group said.
The organisation urged labour unions, civil society and policymakers to use May Day to reassert workers’ rights and demand accountability.
“This is not just about commemoration it is about commitment,” CAPPA stated. “Nigeria must choose whether it will continue on a path where workers are overburdened and undervalued, or one where their welfare is placed at the centre of national development.”
Reaffirming solidarity with Nigerian workers, the group called for urgent and sustained action.
“A nation that neglects its workers undermines its own future,” the statement concluded.
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