Labour gives 17-point demand to Federal Government, suspends protest
NATION — The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday made a 17-point demand to President Bola Tinubu to assuage the poverty, hunger and mass suffering inflicted on the citizens by the policies of the federal government.
This is even as Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State participated in the protest in Ibadan, the state capital, saying there are hunger and anger in the land.
Suspends protest
However, leaders of NLC, yesterday suspended the two-day nationwide protest after the first day, saying its suspension was based on the fact that the street action achieved overwhelming success. In a communiqué at the end of its National Executive Council, NEC, meeting yesterday in Abuja, President of NLC and Acting General Secretary, Joe Ajaero and Ismail Bello, said: “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.”
Meanwhile, on first day of nationwide protest yesterday, NLC, in a letter to President Tinubu, titled ‘’Tackling the Crisis of Survival and Mounting Destitution in the Land – What Must be Done Now!”, signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, said: “Sequel to the recent nationwide protests called by the National Executive Council, NEC, of the NLC, it is our considered opinion that we write to you at this time of great national distress that has left a huge majority of the citizenry and workers massively impoverished and hungry.
“We believe that together, we can co-create programmes and policies that will not only help reduce suffering on the people but also create a functional path out of this morass which the crushing weight of unmitigated inflation and hardship has imposed on us.
“First, Your Excellency may recall that two policies of your government are responsible for the unprecedented economic downturn facing millions of Nigerians. The first is your inauguration declaration that ‘fuel subsidy gone’. “The impact of that policy is unbridled hike in the price of refined petroleum products, especially petrol.
The second is the foreign currency exchange rate flotation policy which translates to massive depreciation of the naira. “We understand that these policies were at the instance of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Your Excellency may recall the principled opposition of the NLC against hike in the pump price of refined petroleum products over the years.
‘’We recall the role Your Excellency played in the early days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to mediate in the industrial action by the NLC against increase in the price of refined petroleum products, especially PMS. ‘’We recall your promise then that the APC government would fix the ills and rot in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sub-sector. Unfortunately, nine years after, the story has deteriorated. ‘’The major cause of dislocation in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sub-sector is failure of the state to efficiently manage our four national oil refineries and products distribution arteries, resulting in mass importation of refined petroleum products, expensive road haulage, incessant hikes in the pump price of petrol and transfer of high energy costs onto prices of other essential goods and services.
