Organised Labour Begins Indefinite Protest Over ‘Anti-People’ Policies

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Organised Labour has kicked off its protest against the “anti-people” policies of the President Bola Tinubu administration in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and other states of the Federation including Lagos, Abia, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Rivers, Zamfara, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Kwara, Ogun, Imo, Ondo, and Edo.

In Abuja, members of the Organised Labour with different paraphernalia of the unions, on Wednesday morning, gathered at the iconic Unity Fountain for the protest.

Some officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) from the FCT were spotted at the Unity Fountain with hundreds of their members.

Affiliated unions of the NLC and the TUC including the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), the National Union of Electricity Employees of Nigeria (NUEE), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) also joined the nationwide protest.

There was a sizable number of security operatives comprising officers of the Nigeria Police Force and the men of the Department of State Services (DSS) at the Unity Fountain just as there are security operatives at the different venues of the protests across the states.

Organised Labour won’t shelve the protest until there is a desired response from the government.

Ajaero said the response from the states will determine “whether the protest will be from today, or tomorrow or next or till thy kingdom come, it is not by using force”.

“We are here for the protest and to make a statement that since we started negotiation, that there is nothing we have in our hands,” he said.

The protesters thereafter marched to the National Assembly and the Three Arms Zone (entrance to the Presidential Villa) where the labour leaders said they would deliver their messages to the government.

Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, on Tuesday, warned against “violent protest ” across the country.

NLC immediately faulted the palliative measures announced by the President to cushion the biting effect of petrol subsidy removal on Nigerians, saying the programmes to be rolled out by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government are totally out of touch with economic realities and hardship currently being faced by poor citizens.

The union said “the promises and assurances made by President Tinubu is not the silver bullet that Nigerians expected”.

The NLC said the President was expected to tell Nigerians his plans to resuscitate public refineries which have been lying comatose for so many years but he was completely silent on the issue.