The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Calls on Bola Tinubu to Address National Hardship and Insecurity
In a stern message delivered on Tuesday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) directed President Bola Tinubu to urgently tackle the prevailing hardship and insecurity plaguing the nation.
The NLC emphasized the imperative for Tinubu to swiftly devise solutions to the multifaceted challenges gripping the country, including the escalating transportation woes stemming from the removal of fuel subsidy and the resultant surge in petroleum product prices.
Addressing reporters on the inaugural day of a two-day nationwide protest staged in Abuja, the President of the NLC underscored that the pervasive insecurity, rampant banditry, widespread hunger, and exorbitant transportation costs were among the principal grievances compelling workers to take to the streets and amplify their concerns to the government.
According to him, “Well, part of the reason why we are protesting is because of the security situation in the country. So it’s good that you understand this. So as the security situation in the country is that bad, the level of kidnapping and abduction is high, even kidnapping for ransom.”
READ ALSO: NLC Members Protest Economic Hardship in Lagos, Kwara, Kaduna
He expressed his fearlessness in the face of potential attacks, asserting that as long as the protest remained peaceful, he harbored no apprehension about being targeted by anyone.
Ajaero questioned the rationale behind anyone with sound judgment resorting to violence against him merely for highlighting the prevalent hunger and escalating insecurity afflicting the nation.
“So why will even somebody that is in this country say that he will attack me in the street because I said that people are hungry? That’s not the issue, I’m not sure any Nigeria, not even those in government have said that there is no suffering.
“They have all acknowledged that there is suffering but they are saying give us patience. And we are saying if we give you all that patient, everybody may die before that time, do something now that’s the only difference.
“There is nobody that doesn’t know that indomie pack is almost N17,000 and That a bag of rice is almost N70,000 they all know, but we’re now looking at the timing, we need a short-term intervention before what you say you are going to do the next one year, people have to be alive before they benefit from it.”
Asked to give insight on the demands of the labour to the government in the two-day protest, he said:
“End hunger in the land, end insecurity because if you end insecurity, end banditry today, people will go to the farm. When you go to the farm, there will be farm produce that we’re going to eat. Nobody dares to go to the farm now to cultivate anything because of fear. And this is very important.
“So, the two work together. If you address the problem of transportation, you have a short-term intervention and you address the problem of security, people will go to the farm, and in the next three months or six months, corn and some other things will start to have to be produced but there’s no security and that is the situation.”
He said that the NLC had presented all its demands and the suffering in the country to the President, adding that the procession was symbolic.
He emphasized that their intent in taking to the streets and voicing their grievances to the government was pure, devoid of any hidden agenda. He expressed confidence that Tinubu would promptly undertake necessary actions to address their concerns with the urgency they deserved.
“We have made our position to be conveyed to him, there is no other aim of doing it and I believe that the President and the federal government would do something to address this issue.
“It is only when we wait for a long time that we will continue to cry out for them to do something for Nigerian workers because as of today, there is suffering in the land and it is a problem for the workers.”
Ajaero emphasized the dire state of affairs in the nation, noting that there are individuals who now struggle to secure a daily meal, underscoring, “It is incumbent upon us, as it has always been the tradition of the labor movement.”
He clarified that the recent meeting held by the NLC with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, and several cabinet members on Monday evening aimed at ensuring the peaceful conduct of the rally.
He said, “We explained that the late meeting would make the desired impact so that the government will get the message and Nigerians can breadth.”
On the insinuation that the rally will not achieve much results because the Trade Union Congress had said it was not part of the process, Ajaero said:
“I will allow you to check the result at the end of the rally today and compare it with other rallies. But NLC is NLC and even if within NLC, they have fifty-something affiliates, any of them can organize a rally even people who are not in NLC can organize.
“So it’s not a question of we, I will not comment about another union but NLC said that they are doing a rally and we are out, I think we should restrict ourselves to the NLC.”
In response to a reminder about the statement made by TUC President, Comrade Festus Osofo on Monday, wherein he emphasized the need to provide solutions rather than suffocate the government, the NLC President remarked that categorizing their noble advocacy as “choking” was unfounded and illogical.
“Is rally choking? It is an expression of the situation so that they can look at it and solve the problem, is it choking? I don’t think that’s choking and I think that that was referred to us because they were equally in the meeting, where we took this decision to continue with the rally, in their presence.
“So I don’t think that TUC has a different view on the sufferings in the country. Maybe they have another approach which they want to adopt and because of that, we can’t condemn them.”