Anambra State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) joined her counterpart across the country in a peaceful protest against policies of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
All the affiliated unions that constitute NLC in the state, including representatives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), among others, participated in the protest which took off from the state office of the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE and terminated at the Ekwueme Square, Awka.
They carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘End fuel price increase,’, ‘Fix our local refineries in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna’, ‘No to Jumbo pay for politicians’, ‘Stop naira devaluation’ and ‘We cannot bear the suffering any more’.
The state chairman of the NLC, Comrade Humphrey Nwafor, said the protest was to bring to notice, the hardship Nigerians were passing through under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, the organized labour in Anambra State decided to join the national body to send the message to the federal government, adding that the subsidy removal announced during President Tinubu’s inauguration has inflicted so much hardship on Nigerians.
Nwafor said: “Other Nigerians should equally raise their voices against the current economic situation of the country.
“We demanded that the FG should pay the 8-months’ salary of University workers.
“The FG should not allow private companies to determine the price increase of petroleum products for Nigerians, when we have our regulatory agency.
“We are also not accepting the N8,000 palliative. As I speak, the cost of living here in Anambra State is very high. The current house rent in Awka is higher than other state capitals of the Federation while workers monthly salaries remain the same.
“We call on President Tinubu to revise all the anti- people policies he has put in place in the interest of the poor masses”.
Nwafor said the protest match was a warning to the Federal Government to do the needful.
Credit: Vanguard News Nigeria