The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has suspended its nationwide protest after reviewing the success recorded on the first day of the two-day action meant to end on Wednesday (today).
The labour centre announced the decision in a communiqué issued last night after the national executive council (NEC) meeting, which reviewed the execution of the first day of the protest.
In the communiqué signed by the NLC president, Mr Joe Ajaero, and acting general secretary, Mr Ismail Bello, however, said nationwide action will continue today (Wednesday) with simultaneous press conferences across all the states of the federation by the state councils of the congress including the national headquarters.
It said the protest achieved an overwhelming success and attained the key objectives of the two-day protest on the first day.
The communiqué reads: “The NEC-in-session therefore reviewed the execution of the first day of the nationwide protest to assess its effectiveness and take decision on further necessary action to guide Congress in its effort at engaging government to protect the people and Nigerian workers from the increasing scourge of hardship.
“To this end, NEC commended Nigerians, all NLC affiliates, state councils, workers and civil society allies across the nation for trooping out in large numbers to peacefully demonstrate their outrage on the hardship imposed by the government and its twin altars – the IMF and the World Bank.
“It believed that the message has strongly resonated. Consequently, NEC-in-session resolved as follows:
“To suspend street action for the second day of the protest having achieved overwhelming success thus attained the key objectives of the 2-day protest on the first day.
“However, nationwide action continues tomorrow with simultaneous press conferences across all the states of the federation by the state councils of the congress including the national headquarters.
“To reaffirm and extend the 7-days ultimatum by another 7 days, which now expires on the 13th day of March, 2024 within which the government is expected to implement all the earlier agreement of the 2nd day of October, 2023 and other demands presented in our letter during today’s nationwide protest.
“To meet and decide on further lines of action if on the expiration of the 14 days government refuses to comply with the demands as contained in the ultimatum.
“Once again, NEC recommits the NLC to continuing defending and promoting the interests and desires of Nigerian workers and the downtrodden masses.”
However, the NLC had yesterday made good its resolve to hold nationwide protest rallies against the prevailing high cost of living in the country.
Supported by civil society organisation, the protests were held in the Lagos, Oyo, Benue, Ogun, Kogi, Kano, Akwa Ibom, and many other states of the federation including the FCT.
The protesters displayed placards bearing different inscriptions such as “End Poverty and Hunger. Support Local Industries,” “Fix Local Refineries End Subsidy,” “End Naira Devaluation; Tax the Rich Subsidise the poor,” “Hunger dey,” “Bring back subsidy,” “Nigerians are starving to death” “Tinubu, end hunger and suffering in Nigeria,” “FG, end the hunger in Nigeria now,” and “Tinubu, let Nigerians breathe,” among others to make their grievances known on the current economic hardship across the country.
Addressing journalists before the protest started, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero said the government had used various means, including threats to stop the rallies but did not succeed.
He said the labour centre went ahead with the nationwide protests “so that Mr President will know how Nigerians feel and know where it is pinching us.”
“We met late Sunday and also late Monday but all the agenda pushed by the government was to urge us not to protest today (yesterday). Government said that we should not protest and that some of us have a date with history today if we defy that plea to come out. The government used peaceful means and they used threats but we are in God’s hands,” he said.
Ajaero accused the government of reneging on an agreement to put in place policies to mitigate the suffering of workers due to the removal of petrol subsidies.
He told President Bola Tinubu address transportation problem occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy and the attendant high price of petroleum products.
I’m not sure any Nigeria, not even those in government have said that there is no suffering.
“They have all acknowledged that there is suffering but they are saying give us patience. And we are saying if we give you all patience, everybody may die before that time. Do something now, that’s the only difference.
“There is nobody that doesn’t know that indomie pack is almost N17, 000, that a bag of rice is almost N70, 000 they all know, but we’re now looking at the timing, we need a short term intervention before what you say you are going to do the next one year, people have to be alive before they benefit from it,” he said.
Providing insight into the demands of the organised labour to the government, Ajaero said: “End hunger in the land, end insecurity because if you end insecurity, end banditry today, people will go to the farm. When you go to the farm, there will be farm produce that we’re going to eat. Nobody dares going to the farm now to cultivate anything because of fear. And this is very important.
“So, the two work together. If you address the problem of transportation, you have a short-term intervention and you address the problem of security, people will go to farm and in the next three months or six months, corn and some other things will start to have produce but there’s no security and that is the situation.”
He said the NLC had presented all its demands and the suffering in the country to the president.
“We have made our position to be conveyed to him, there is no other aim of doing it and I believe that the President and the federal government would do something to address this issue.
“It is only when we wait for a long time that we will continue to cry out for them to do something for Nigerian worker because as at today, there is suffering in the land and it is a problem for the worker,” he added.
Across the states
There was a heavy presence of security personnel in various states of the federation, as protesters expressed their vent their spleen on the current nationwide hardship.
In Lagos, the NLC was joined by some of its affiliates including the Nigerian Union of Teachers, (NUT), Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), and National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) among others.
Addressing journalist before the march, the state chairperson of the NLC, Ms Funmi Sessi, said the protest was against the economic hardship faced by workers and Nigerians at large.
“The price of foodstuffs has gone beyond the reach of Nigerians; the price of rice and beans has gone up as well. The monthly salary of workers no longer takes them home, not to talk about taking care of their families.
We are marching to the State House of Assembly to present a letter; this protest is purely organised by the NLC, with the support of some affiliate bodies,” she said.
In Akwa Ibom State, protesters gathered at its secretariat where they began to march to the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly complex along Udo Udoma Avenue.
The state chairman of the workers’ union, Mr Sunny James, delivered a letter to the Speaker of the assembly.
Chanting solidarity songs, the protesters also marched to the Government House on Wellington Bassey Way, where James delivered a letter to the state governor, Mr Umo Eno.
The workers demanded the implementation of the N35, 000 palliative award in the state.
They also asked for the provision of high-capacity CNG/ electric buses for the people, a key component of the agreement signed between labour and the federal government.
The labour leader said “there is hunger and anger” in the state and urged the state government to pay retirees and release 2023 promotion letters to workers.
James called for the reactivation of fertiliser plant in Abak as well as improvement in the power supply in the state.
In Kogi State, the News Agency of Nigeria reported that the protest was crisis-free.
Addressing the protesting workers, the state chairman of the NLC, Mr Gabriel Amari, said the prevailing hardship in the country was caused by “government’s unfriendly policies and programmes”.
He Amari called on the federal government to reverse some of its policies that had brought untold hardships to Nigerians.
He stressed that the hardship were caused by the removal of fuel subsidies and some other policies.
“This protest is never a coup or a threat against the government but to impress on the government to quickly alleviate the suffering of the masses.
“Unfortunately, the federal government has failed to implement the 15-point agreements reached with the NLC in October 2023, after the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum.
“The protest is to tell the whole world that Nigerians are dying because of the policies of the government adopted from the IMF and World Bank, which led to the devaluation of our Naira.
“This has put Nigeria into an entire crisis; there is no food, hunger is everywhere; workers cannot sponsor their children to school. People are dying because they can no longer meet their health needs,” he said.
In Benue, the protesting union members who started from the NLC state secretariat located along Otukpo Road marched towards major streets in the capital, Makurdi and terminated the protest match at the government house.
The state chairman of the NLC, Mr Terungwa Igbe lamented that Nigerians are passing through untold hardships following the bad economic policies of the Federal Government.
Igbe said prices of goods have skyrocketed to the extent that within a day and in the same market, the same items are sold at different rates depending on the time of the day.
He said the high cost of living affected the workers seriously and urged Tinubu to urgently initiate and implement policies that would alleviate the sufferings of the masses.
In Edo, commercial activities were grounded for several hours on the popularly called Ring Road and adjoining streets in Benin City as Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOCSO) mobilised the residents for the protest.
In a statement read to newsmen, the chairman of the organisation, Mr Austine Enabulele, said the 14-day ultimatum given President Tinubu to fix the economy had since elapsed, noting that nothing had been done to address the issue of hunger in the country.
“We cannot take the pains anymore; enough of hunger, enough of hardship, enough of bad governance in Nigeria.
“If he can’t fix the problems of Nigeria, he should resign quickly with his Vice President, Shettima and let us conduct a fresh election because Nigerians are dying every day.
“Children are now becoming orphans because their fathers are dying of hardship in Nigeria. We are saying enough is enough. If he can’t fix the problems of Nigeria, he should resign and go,” he said.
With agency reports
