Lagos, Aug. 2, 2023 – The organised labour says its nationwide protest against the harsh economic situation in the country will start today and warns protesters not to listen to fake news.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said today’s protest would hold as talks with the Federal Government on short-term palliatives collapsed yesterday.
Comrade Titus Amba, the NLC Deputy President, on Tuesday after a meeting with fedral government’s delegation, said there was nothing new, apart from the broadcast of President Bola Tinubu, that was presented to the committee.
He said the palliatives rolled out by the President in his broadcast could not “remedy anything”.
Festus Osifo, the TUC President, while also briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting, said: “We told Nigerians that we’ll be meeting today (yesterday) by 12 noon, so we came here much later.
“We had the conversation, and again the government team told us that what the President has put on the table is more or less like a starting point, and it’s a baseline.
“So, we on our part, also said yes, that we would have been surprised if that is everything that will be put forward because for us, we felt there are some gaps.
“For us, we felt that the President has said that N1 trillion has been saved in the last two months, that what has been proposed is not far-reaching.
“For us, you know, as part of the principle of negotiations, when anything is put on the table, you accept, but you push for more. So, on our part, we said what has been put on the table is not sufficient, it’s not enough, and that they can do more.
“So, part of what we put forward was that, we will look at those things the President highlighted.
“We think, for example, that 3000 CNG buses are not sufficient, we think it is not sufficient.
“By the time you divide 3000 by 37, you can see how many they can come up to, so it’s not sufficient, it’s grossly inadequate,” Osifo said.
The Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives, however, pleaded with labour to shelve the planned protest, saying it was doing everything possible to address labour’s concerns.
Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to the President, made the appeal yesterday while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives held at the State House, Abuja.
“We have laid out the plans, the interventions of Mr. President, as you all heard in his broadcast yesterday (Monday), we made it clear that this was just Mr. President’s initial rollout and interventions and that conversations will be ongoing as we go along.
“We appealed to labour, we did appeal to labour to call off the protests for tomorrow.
“We found listening ears here and they did agree that they all accepted that Mr. President’s broadcast was a welcome development and that they will go back home to talk to the other leaders that are not present today.
‘’So, we’re hopeful that they will do the right thing and call off the strike tomorrow.” (GBN)
