From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Organised Labour in Ogun State, on Wednesday morning, shut down major roads in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital in protest of the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The workers equally demanded the repair of Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries.
The workers, who thronged out in their large number demanded the immediate reversal of all anti-poor policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Armed with various placards, the workers marched from the NLC s
Secretariat located in Leme Area of Abeokuta metropolis to the Governor’s Office in Oke-Mosan, preventing free vehicular movement.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: “Let the poor breath, don’t suffocate them”, “Stop importation of petrol, revive the refineries now!!!”, “Stop the looting, tax the rich and subsidise the poor” and “Give workers what is due”.
They lamented the removal of fuel subsidies, hike in school fees and VAT and described the policies as anti-people.
The workers also demanded the release of eight months of withheld salaries of university lecturers and an end to “inhuman actions” and policies of the government.
According to them, the policies had brought untold hardships to Nigerian workers and further worsened the living conditions of the people.
Addressing the workers, the NLC chairman in the state, Hammed Ademola said, the protest was in compliance with the directive of the national body of the union.
“We have to be on the street, we must not wait until we die, our destiny is always in our hands and now is the right time for us to tell the government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that we Nigerians are suffering.
“The fuel subsidy removal has caused a lot of hardship, untold hardship for the masses of this nation. We are suffering, we have crude oil yet we are still buying abroad, enough is enough”, Ademola said.
Also speaking, Trade Union Congress chairman in the state, Akeem Lasisi, demanded the reversal of fuel subsidy, saying “Subsidy is the constitutional responsibility of any government, subsidy is a global practice, so it is unfortunate in this country that our own subsidy is marred with corruption.”
“Instead of the government to remove the corruption in the subsidy, they removed the subsidy itself,” he added.