Organised Labour in the country has decided to press on with its protest slated for next week. There is no going back the Nigerian workers said, despite government appeal to them to shelve the protest in the interest of the country.
The Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, had last week issued a two-day protest notice to the federal government over the hardship in the country resulting from the high cost of living. The protest will take place between February 27 and 28, the union said.
The two unions had earlier issued a 14-day strike notice to the government over the non-implementation of the 16-point agreement reached by the parties in October last year.
The Department of State Services, DSS, had urged the NLC and TUC to shelve the two-day protest in the interest of the country, saying it could be hijacked by hoodlums to cause chaos.
Reacting on Wednesday, Joe Ajaero, NLC President said it is within workers’ right to embark on peaceful protest, while security agencies are to ensure that troublemakers are not allowed to foment trouble.
Ajaero said they would not succumb to DSS blackmail to jettison the protest, which he said, is necessary to call the attention of the government to the suffering of Nigerians due to high cost of living in the country.
The NLC Leader said labour is concerned “concerned by the unsolicited advice of the Department of State Security to shelve our planned protest against the unprecedented high cost of living in spite of the indescribable suffering in the land, spiralling inflation, deepening poverty and the Naira at an exchange rate of N1,900 to the US Dollar.”
He said further: “According to the Service, the planned protest should be shelved “in the interest of peace and public order”, pre-supposing that the action is intended to be violent and disruptive even when we have a history of peaceful protests.
“More worrying is the new role the Service has assigned to itself, the chief spokes person of the government.
“According to the Service, “It is common knowledge that all levels of Government are striving to ameliorate the prevailing economic condition and as such, should be given a benefit of the doubt, So far, appropriate authorities are working assiduously with a spectrum of stakeholders to fashion out modalities to address the current difficulties”.
“We are equally worried that although the Service is aware that some elements are planning to use the opportunity of the protest to foment crisis and by extension, widespread violence”, and yet have not executed the arrest of these elements.
“We are equally intrigued by the innuendos of the Service, their philosophy of “peace” and wild allegations and we want to reassure them that no one loves this country more than us and on our honour, we would never do anything that will compromise its sovereignty or security.
“Having said this, we would not have ourselves blackmailed or lied against by the Service. Our protest is a peaceful one against the unpardonable cost of living of which the unserviced personnel of the Service are also victims. We cannot fold our hands and pretend all is well. That will be a grievous conspiracy that history will not forgive.”
The magazine learned today that the federal government has started consultations with the two unions in other to ensure that the protest is shelved.
This is due to fear that some unscrupulous elements could hijack it to their own gain, which could spiral into a serious security problem for the government.
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