The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has started a large-scale mobilisation in preparation for its scheduled nationwide strike, set to begin on Wednesday.
The strike is aimed at protesting the difficulties caused by the removal of fuel subsidy, which has resulted in increased hardships for the public.
According to the information made available, NLC has fixed the Unity Fountain, Abuja on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 7 am for the abuja protest .
Adding that “There is nowhere in the world where government leaves its citizens totally to the vagaries of the market without some measure of control and protection. The Federal Government should immediately deal decisively with the criminal content of subsidy instead of exposing ordinary citizens to avoidable pain and hardship.
Speaking further on the recent monetary policies implemented by the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government, the NLC said, “We are concerned that no government acting reasonably leaves its national currency to forces of the market.”
Insisting on its demands, the union reiterated the need for the government to immediately reverse all “anti-poor policies”, and release the withheld salaries of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, among others.
Ahead of its meeting with the Federal Government, slated for today (Monday), and the upcoming nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday, the NLC has accused the Tinubu-led administration of playing games with the lives of Nigerians. The congress also called on the government to take seriously the engagement with the labour unions.
Earlier Govima reported that the special adviser the Special Adviser to the President on Special duties, Communications & Strategy, Dele Alake Monday announced that President Tinubu will address the country at 7 pm today. Tendencies are high that the president might be reacting on the congress demands
In an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday, the National Treasurer of the NLC, Hakeem Ambali, highlighted how the government disregarded the meeting with labor leaders at the State House, which was scheduled for Friday, July 28, 2023.
He further questioned the government’s intentions for approving N70bn as palliatives for members of the National Assembly while it continued to “play games” with labour.
He said, “Government needs to take engagement with Labour seriously. The government’s economic policy had meted untold hardship on Nigerian people and workers’ patience is running out. How can the government approve about N70bn to National Assembly members and about N35bn to the judiciary, those who are very comfortable in terms of salary, and continue to play game with Labour?”
Other associations draw up
Meanwhile, academic unions, including the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, have initiated nationwide mobilization of their members in preparation for the scheduled strike set to begin on Wednesday.
The national presidents of the two unions, in separate interviews with newsmen in Abuja, noted that as affiliate members of the NLC, they would join in the strike. The National President, SSANU, Muhammed Ibrahim, said, “We are actively going to participate.”
Likewise , the National President of ASUP, Anderson Ezeibe, said, “Of course, we will join the protest.”
The protest is aimed at condemning the fuel subsidy removal, which they believe has caused suffering and hunger among the populace. The youths also demanded the dismissal of Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, accusing him of misleading the President regarding the subsidy removal.
This was just as they warned against renewing the Pipeline Surveillance Contract to a former Niger Delta militant, Government Tompolo, by the NNPCL.
Addressing journalists in Kaduna on Sunday, the group’s Publicity Secretary, Aminu Abbas, fingered the NNPCL boss as the brain behind the renewal of the pipeline contract to Tompolo.
According to him, protecting oil pipelines and other national assets should be the responsibility of the nation’s armed forces, failure of which a vote of no confidence would be passed in them.The group demanded Kyari’s sacking, threatening that it would mobilise its members across the 19 northern states and Abuja, to storm the Federal Capital Territory in protest against the subsidy removal.
On the flip ,the Nigeria Employer Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association appealed to the NLC to reconsider the planned strike “due to potential threats to sustainable enterprises, decent work, national development, and our industrial relations system.”
NECA, in a statement, expressed worry that the planned strike “could potentially disrupt the economic activities of businesses, especially those in the formal and informal sectors, which could compromise sustainability and job creation.”
“We urge the government to, as a matter of urgency, take immediate steps to ameliorate the economic trauma being faced by workers, Nigerians, and organised businesses. It is no gainsaying that many businesses are shut down and many others are on the verge of closing, which will exacerbate the current unemployment rate and drag many further down the poverty line,” NECA said.
