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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Nigeriia Labour Congress (NLC) in Ekiti State on Tuesday joined its counterparts across the country to protest against the current economic hardship in the country.
The protesters began the peaceful protest from the NLC State secretariat at Egbewa area of Ado-Ekiti, capital of the state, through bank road and converged at the popular Fajuyi park in the metropolis to express their displeasure over the hardship.
Security agencies were on ground to ensure there was no break down of law and order
The protest disrupted vehicular movement along the axis as motorists and motorcyclists moving towards Adebayo, Basiri and Okesa had hitch moving to their various routes.
The protesters chanted solidarity songs and brandished various placard inscriptions that read, ” Nigerians are suffering, This hardship is unbearable,” End Insecurity, “Stop subsidising the rich, “Prices of goods and services on the increase daily, “End Naira devaluation, ‘Reduce price of cement, “Fuel subsidy removal causing pains, ” Reduce fuel price, ” Fix local refineries, “Stop Jumbo pay to politicians, among others.
The NLC Chairman in the state, Comrade Kolade Olatunde who led the protesters said the protest was as a result of the federal government’s failure to implement the agreement reached with the organised labour.
According to him,” In May last year, President Bola Tinubu withdrew the fuel subsidy and because of this, we have been telling the government if this is done , it will result to hunger among Nigerians, prices of goods and services will skyrocket our market women and traders will be experiencing little or no patronage if at all they have goods to sell, then we protest against it but no step was taken.
“But on 2, October, 2023, the federal government called the leadership of the organised labour to a meeting to dialogue with and pacify Nigerian workers and they signed a 15-point agreement with us. But as I am speaking now, government has not done anything about the agreement signed with the labour . One of the major part of the agreement is that the refineries will be fixed and will be made to work effectively and nothing has been done about this. Instead of us buying fuel at the rate of N197 per litre we are now buying it at about N700 per litre some are buying it N800 some even more than that
“They also promised to approve new minimum wage within one to four months but as we speak, it was just last month a committee that will look into that was inaugurated and the committee is yet to meet. And this N30,000 minimum we are talking about will expire next month, yet the federal government has not done anything. This is the reason why we are calling on them, that why did you refused to implement the agreement signed into? They are saying they will give our farmers, artisans and others money but nothing was forthcoming. They promised to give workers passenger buses being powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in all states of the federation, we didn’t see any apart from the one Governor Biodun Oyebanji made available to workers in the state.This is why we are staging this peaceful protest before we die of hunger.
“It is funny that a group of people were gathering and were saying they are no longer part of us and dissociating themselves from the masses, but we remain resolute, whatever that every common man and the entire Nigerian workers deserve they must get and we will keep fighting for the right of the people.
“Therefore, we are calling on president, who is one of us and we know him as a reputable and person of integrity who will do what is right and worthy.
“We are not fighting him, we know things may have gone wrong before he came to power but now that he has taken over mantle of leadership, he needs to always go to stakeholders and technocrats that can give him good advice to transform and fix Nigeria.
“We want our country to get better and we know this country is flowing with milk and honey, it is only somebody who does not want to get things done will think and act otherwise. If things are done rightly, exchange rate will not go as high as N1900 to a US dollar and other hard currencies. We can’t continue to suffer like this in a nation that is blessed like ours.
” We want to use this opportunity to appreciate Governor Oyebanji for all he has been doing for workers and the entire people of the state to ease the effects of the economic hardship on the people.”
