In a press statement issued on Tuesday, signed by its National President, Comrade Rufus Olusesan, PERESSA said the protest was “not only timely but imperative,” accusing the government of abdicating its fundamental responsibility to protect Nigerians amid worsening insecurity and economic hardship.
The Precision, Electrical, and Related Equipment Senior Staff Association (PERESSA) has thrown its weight behind the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)-led nationwide protest scheduled for Wednesday, December 17, 2025, describing it as a necessary response to the Nigerian government’s failure to secure lives and property across the country.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday, signed by its National President, Comrade Rufus Olusesan, PERESSA said the protest was “not only timely but imperative,” accusing the government of abdicating its fundamental responsibility to protect Nigerians amid worsening insecurity and economic hardship.
The union said while insecurity appears more pronounced in parts of northern Nigeria, no region of the country can genuinely be described as safe, stressing that Nigerians of all religious and ethnic backgrounds are victims of state failure.
“Working people and youth must unite to put pressure on the government to do its job of securing and protecting the lives of every Nigerian,” the association declared.
Beyond insecurity, PERESSA said the protest reflects the collective anguish of Nigerian workers and the poor who have been “pushed to the wall” by what it described as anti-poor, neo-liberal capitalist policies pursued by successive governments.
According to the union, rising unemployment, mass poverty, and collapsing living standards have created fertile ground for criminality, including banditry and Boko Haram insurgency.
“Nigeria today is witnessing an unprecedented collapse of living standards. Inflation has become a daily burden on survival, wages have been viciously eroded, and the purchasing power of workers has been reduced to a shadow of its former self,” PERESSA said.
The union listed the removal of petroleum subsidies, hikes in electricity tariffs, the floating of the naira, rising energy costs, and other market-driven reforms as policies that have imposed “untold and needless hardship” on workers and the poor.
“These so-called reforms have become tools for the brutal exploitation of working people,” the statement added.
PERESSA also raised alarm over the planned implementation of a new tax regime from January 2026, warning that it would further impoverish workers, cripple small and medium-scale businesses, and deepen inequality.
“Salaries that are already insufficient will be further devalued, while small enterprises already gasping for breath under high operating costs face imminent collapse,” the union warned, adding that unchecked economic distress would inevitably worsen insecurity nationwide.
The association called on the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to abandon what it described as silence and join forces with the NLC to form a united labour front against government policies.
PERESSA further urged labour unions to strengthen alliances with civil society organisations and progressive groups such as the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) and the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), insisting that only a broad-based coalition could effectively challenge policies favouring the ruling elite.
“The December 17 protest should be a mobilising ground for the struggles ahead, especially as we approach January 2026 when the new tax regime will commence,” the union said.
PERESSA vowed to stand with Nigerian workers and oppressed masses in the fight for security, decent wages, fair taxation, and an economy that serves the majority rather than a privileged few.