Protests broke out all over Nigeria this morning as the authorities failed to convince Nigerian workers to halt their planned nationwide work strike.
A government delegation led by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, met with the leaders of the labour unions on Monday night, hoping to resolve the issues that warranted the strike but the meeting was deadlocked.
“The rally goes on,” said the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero, after the meeting.
The labour union blames the government for neglecting “the welfare of citizens and Nigerian workers.”
It is demanding, among other things, a substantial pay raise for Nigerian workers because of the mounting economic hardship in the country.
The NLC had insisted on the mass protest, today and tomorrow, despite the warning by the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi. Fagbemi had cautioned that the planned mass protest was in contempt of court.
While the protest was billed to start today, there were protests in Lagos, Osun and Edo States yesterday.
The nationwide rally is to demand the government’s immediate intervention to ease the hardship rocking Nigeria since the removal of the petrol subsidy and floating of the naira.
The Nigerian workers in Abuja converged at the Labour House, Central Business District, Abuja and marched to the National Assembly.
At the National Assembly complex, Ajaero handed over the union’s letter of demands to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment, and Productivity, Senator Diket Plang.
In his remarks, the NLC President said, “As of today, there is suffering in the land, there is suffering for the worker. Over 50 million Nigerians are living below the poverty line, when you say below it, those are the people who cannot get something to eat daily.
“So, it is our responsibility, and that has been the history of the labour movement, to say it the way it is. The federal government is listening to the IMF, World Bank and international organisations while the naira is depreciating.”
“All African currencies are now bigger than Nigeria’s currency. We are on the way to Zimbabwe. There is no light, we can’t pay school fees with N30,000 minimum wages.”
Ezinwanne Onwuka, senior staff reporter and columnist with WAP is a Nigerian-based writer and content developer. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Her interests include reading, writing, researching and graphic designing.
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