Hardship: Workers protest in Ebonyi
From Chinedu Nwafor, Abakaliki
Workers in Ebonyi State on Tuesday joined their counterparts in other states of the country to protest the current hardship in Nigeria.
The workers led by the leadership of NLC in the State matched through the major streets of Abakaliki to make their demands known.
They called on the federal government to look into the rising hunger and hardship in the country.
They carried placards with inscriptions such as “Tinubu end hunger now in Nigeria, “we say no to hunger, “Tinubu end poverty now in Nigeria, “we say no to high cost of living, “Nigerians are dying of harsh policies”, among others.
The State Chairman of NLC, Prof. Ogugua Egwu in his address said that the protest was organized to let the government know the unbearable plights of Nigerian populace, especially the workers.
He attributed the situation to the harsh policies of the government at the centre.
“It is obvious that the Nigerian people are dying, they are suffering and smiling. It is obvious that despite the hardship they face on daily basis they still continue to move.
“It is obvious that the pain is too much and we are here to use every legal means to tell the world that indeed we are pained, that indeed, we are suffering and indeed, we can not continue to be made slaves against the world.
“We must make our voices heard. We are here not against anybody, we are here not against the government of Ebonyi state, we are here because we are hungry and hunger must end in the land. Hunger must go in the land.
“We are here because we are in the municipality, find out from those in the villages you will see very dry pockets of sad people. Starvation has become the order in the land of Nigerians, starvation has become a burden among the Nigerians, starvation has become a burden against workers.
“A worker can not afford a three square meal, a worker can not feed himself not to talk of his family, a typical Nigerian worker cannot afford to take himself to work and yet we call ourselves Nigerians.
“We have children we can not take them to school, we have children we cannot even afford to feed them. A satchet of water is sold for more than 50 naira, a liter of fuel is more than 700 naira as at today, a kilogram of cooking gas is more than 1,400 naira, a bag of cement is more than 10,000 naira, how do we survive?
“A typical Abakaliki rice is sold for more than 30,000 naira for a bushel, what is the minimum wage, N30,000; will it be used for rice alone?
“We should not continue to remain in silence, we shall continue to speak out, we shall continue to let the ruling class know that the period of hostility is over and Nigeria must be good in Jesus name.
Also speaking,the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities, EBSU Chapter, Prof. Ikechuku Igwenyi noted that University Lecturers as of today find it difficult to pay their rent and other expenses.
“Today, we are still paid with the salary structure of 2009, you can imagine that, as it is today, a Lecturer can not pay his house rent, he can not buy a bag of rice and then fuel his car. It is hard on us which is why as an affiliate of NLC we have come to support what they have come to do.
“To tell Nigerians to say no to all these policies that are not human,a situation were the minimum wage of the civil servants is N30,000 and a bag of rice is N30,000 naira. It means it has nothing left if he buys a bag of rice. There are issues there, the rent, the school fees of the children,health, social bills and all of them, so how can we survive?
