Hardship and Insecurity: NLC declares 2-day national protest
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its members and affiliate unions to begin mobilisation for a two-day national protest expected to take place on February 27 and 28 if the federal government failed to implement all the agreements signed with it in October 2023.
The two-day national protest, it said, will take place at the expiration of the 14-day ultimatum it had earlier issued.
President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, who addressed newsmen on Friday at the end of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja, asked his members to be on standby for an indefinite strike, which would commence seven days after the nationwide protest if the government still fails to meet its demands.
Ajaero, who noted that Labour was no longer interested in empty talks from the government but in actions, urged the government to immediately implement the agreement and restore faith in the democratic process as Nigerians were struggling to survive.
Ajaero said the Federal Government should not flout the deadline of the 14-day ultimatum.
The organised labour lamented that millions of Nigerian workers are facing hunger, erosion of purchasing power and insecurity due to reforms that drove up inflation.
This followed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to scrap a popular but costly fuel subsidy last May coupled with his administration’s lifting of restrictions on currency trading, which more than tripled petrol prices.
Africa’s biggest economy is now grappling with a cost of living crisis, fuelled by the highest inflation rate in nearly three decades.
The widespread insecurity has also hit agricultural output, fuelling food price inflation.
The unions in a statement, gave the government 14 days to deal with “issues crucial to the well-being of Nigerian masses and workers.”
