26/03/2026
PRESS STATEMENT
Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN)
In Solidarity with Informal Workers Demanding Social Protection
The Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN) expresses its firm solidarity with the courageous members of the Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria who took to the gates of the National Assembly Complex to demand long-overdue social protection for millions of informal workers across Nigeria.
This protest is both timely and justified. Informal workers, market traders, artisans, transport workers, domestic workers, and countless others constitute the backbone of Nigeria’s economy. Yet, they remain excluded from even the most basic forms of social security. The demand for comprehensive social protection, social insurance, contributory pension schemes, and accessible health insurance is not a privilege, but a fundamental right.
For decades, successive governments have paid lip service to the welfare of working people while implementing policies that deepen inequality and precarious living conditions. The absence of universal social protection exposes informal workers to extreme vulnerability in times of illness, old age, unemployment, and economic crisis. This is unacceptable in a country endowed with immense human and material resources.
WYSN aligns fully with FIWON’s demands and calls on the Nigerian state to:
Immediately initiate a universal and publicly funded social protection system that covers all workers, including those in the informal sector.
Establish a comprehensive national health insurance scheme that guarantees free or affordable healthcare for all.
Implement a transparent and accessible contributory pension system tailored to the realities of informal workers.
Ensure that all social protection frameworks are democratically managed, with direct participation of workers’ organizations.
We emphasize that any attempt to shift the burden of social protection onto already impoverished workers through exploitative contributions, without corresponding state responsibility, must be resisted. Social protection must be funded through public wealth, including the taxation of big corporations and the redirection of resources from wasteful government expenditure.
Furthermore, we call on the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria to go beyond statements and actively mobilize their structures in support of informal workers’ struggles. The unity of formal and informal workers is essential to winning lasting gains.
The struggle of FIWON is the struggle of all workers and youth. In the face of deepening economic hardship, rising inflation, and mass unemployment, the fight for social protection is inseparable from the broader struggle for a just and equitable society.
WYSN reiterates its unwavering support for FIWON and calls on all progressive organizations, civil society groups, and the Nigerian masses to rally behind this just cause.
Forward ever in the struggle for workers’ rights and social justice!
Signed:
Workers and Youth Solidarity Network (WYSN)
Comrade Iortyom Ushahemba Moses
National Secretary
