…as protesters pull down national assembly gate
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has refuted the claim of President Bola Tinubu that N1 trillion has been saved since his government ceased payment of fuel subsidy.
In a nationwide broadcast on Monday, the president revealed that a total of N1 trillion had been saved since subsidy payment was stopped.
Speaking during the ongoing nationwide protest of orgaised labour, Comrade Joe Ajaero, NLC President, said the committee that the FG set up to negotiate with Labour revealed that not a single kobo had been saved.
Ajaero spoke when he alongside Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), led protesters to the national assembly complex on Wednesday.
“Mr President talked about N1trillion saved. The committee where we meet, they told us that no one kobo has been saved so far. Therefore, we have not agreed on what to pay anywhere,” he said.
Meanwhile, protesters, led by organised labour, have pulled down the gate of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The protesters, who had Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, leader, Joe Ajaero, and Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, leading, asked security operatives stationed at the legislative building to open the gates so workers could talk to the lawmakers.
But the security officials refused. In anger, the protesters pulled down the gates and flooded the assembly complex.
The Senate Chief Whip, Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South), asked the labour leaders and protesters to call off the nationwide protest and give the Senate one week to address the demands brought before it.
In Lagos, Labour demanded N30,000 subsidy palliative from the state government to assuage the hardship occasioned by fuel subsidy removal.
Chairman of Lagos NLC, Funmi Sessi, made the demand when the Deputy Governor, Kadri Hamzat, addressed the protesters.
Sessi said: “We need subsidy palliative. Our minimum wage can no longer take care of our burdens.
“Many people are dying, and hungry. We know the state government is trying, but they still need to do more.
“We need subsidy palliative of N30,000 each for workers, for the next six months.
“We know the government has slashed BRT fares, but we want to be able to put food on our table. Some of us have cars, we need to buy fuel.
“We want health care to be affordable. Agencies and parastatals should get buses to transmit workers to and fro.
“We want a stakeholders’ dialogue with the state government. We also need food banks, we want stomach infrastructure; it is very important.”
Among those who joined the labour leaders to protest in Lagos were human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the 2023 election Omoyele Sowore.