The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has announced a two-day nationwide mass protest scheduled for February 27 and 28, 2024.
Joe Ajaero, NLC president, stated this at Labour House, Abuja, during an emergency session Friday.
“It is regrettable that we are compelled to resort to such measures, but the persistent neglect of the welfare of citizens and Nigerian workers and the massive hardship leave us with no choice,” Ajaero said.
ATTENTION: Intel Region is ₦10,000 to our top readers, CLICK HERE to become a winner
Ajaero noted that the decision to stage a protest was made after the 14-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Government regarding the nationwide hardships had expired.
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate reached 29.90 percent in January, the country’s statistics agency reported today as the naira continues to weaken.
The Consumer Price Index report released by the NBS showed that prices rose by 0.98 percent to 29.90percent in January 2024, compared with 28.92 percent in December.
The deadline was given to emphasize the demands for reforms aimed at alleviating the ongoing hardships experienced by Nigerians.
“Constrained by this development and recognising the urgency of the situation and the imperative of ensuring the protection and defence of the rights and dignity of Nigerian workers and citizens.
“The NLC and TUC hereby issue a stern ultimatum to the Federal Government to honour their part of the understanding within 14 days from tomorrow, the 9th day of February 2024,” Ajaero said.
Meanwhile, a faith-based non-governmental organization (NGO), the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has advised Nigerians not to destroy their own country over the current bad times.
The group said great democracies like Britain, France, Canada and America are facing worse economic decline. It therefore advised Nigerians to exercise patience and caution.
This was contained in a press statement issued on Friday, 16th February, 2024 by the Executive Director of MURIC, Professor Ishaq Akintola.
WHATSAPP: Click HERE to join the iR News Room WhatsApp group to receive latest updates on your phone!
The full statement reads:“Reports came yesterday that the economy of the United Kingdom has entered recession (https://www.thecable.ng/just-in-uk-economy-enters-recession-as-gdp-drops-by-0-3). The report was quickly followed by another bad news that the economy of Japan has also slipped into recession (https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/japans-economy-slips-into-recession-weak-domestic-demand-2024-02-15/).
“Something must be terribly wrong with the world’s economy if great democracies like Britain, France, Canada and America are facing worse economic decline. Nigerians in diaspora have been complaining of tough times and it all began with the COVID-19 lockdown when the world’s economy was totally shut down. Things have not been the same since then.
“Nigerians have two major lessons to learn from this ugly developments. Firstly, Nigeria is merely suffering from the bandwagon effect of a distraught global economy. We are not an island. What is happening to the naira and the skyrocketing prices is not isolated. Neither can we blame our leaders for it. It is a natural concomitant of events in a global village. We can only blame globalisation for it.
“Secondly, although there are reports of recession in those countries, their citizens have not resorted to violence. Public properties are not being attacked. Neither are there threats by their military to stage coups because they are sensible enough to know that the military are not trained for politics or management of battered economies.
“The threat of a military coup allegedly issued by the former head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida is therefore in bad taste and it is most unfortunate. We advise Nigerians to ignore him if indeed the report is true.
The military’s past incursion into politics brought Nigeria to where it is today. Characterized by lack of probity, total absence of accountability, disrespect for the rule of law, dehumanisation of the citizenry, tyranny, totalitarian dictatorship, etc, military rule is a hydra-headed monster which Nigerians must avoid at all cost.
“The worst civilian rulers are better than the best military rulers. You can change a civilian president at the polls but you are permanently at the mercy of a military ruler. Military rule has no timeline whereas a civilian ruler has just four years to prove his mettle or be changed at the polls.
“We therefore urge Nigerians to shun all undemocratic attempts at changing the system. We are aware of incitements to demonstrations and some have actually taken place. We admit that demonstrations are our right to express grievances but we must be wary of hijackers whose evil plans are more luciferous than that of the authors of #EndSARS.
“Nigerians must not listen to those who incite them to destroy public property. Only sadists can look at the hundreds of brand new luxurious buses of the Lagos State Government which were all burnt down and feel a sense of achievement. Those buses were about to be launched for use as public transport by the citizens. We must never allow such madness again.
“In keeping with the avowed motto of MURIC which is ‘Dialogue, No Violence’, we urge Nigerians to engage their leaders at the local, state and federal levels for ways and means of rubber-cushioning the effect of this economic downturn. We call on workers’ unions to jaw-jaw with employees of labour without playing to the gallery.”
Σχόλια