The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) president, Joseph Ajaero, has responded to criticism about the union’s planned nationwide strike over the removal of fuel subsidies.
Ajaero, speaking on the AIT’s morning show, blamed Nigerians and the general public for the strike’s suspension.
According to him;
The problem is that Nigerians are very docile. Protests must not only be led by NLC, what about 130 million Nigerians in multi-dimension poverty, can’t they come out to protest?
While criticising some Civil Society Organisations (CSO) for blaming the Labour Union for the strike’s suspension, the NLC boss stated that another reason for the strike’s suspension was to demonstrate to the outside world that the NLC is a law-abiding organisation, following the federal government’s acquisition of a restraining order from the National Industrial Court (NIC) for this purpose.
He pointed out that;
It pains me to read all manners of media reports accusing NLC of not going ahead with the proposed strike. It’s not all about Labour leading the strike, what about Nigerians? The problem is that Nigerians are very docile. Protests must not only be led by NLC, what about 130 million Nigerians in multi-dimension poverty, can’t they come out to protest?
Again, I say to the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) blaming Labour for not protesting, why can’t they lead the mass protest? The truth is that NLC has been carrying the burden of CSOs in leading the protests and it should not be so.
Look, even the judges who gave the restraining order that organised labour should not go on strike on June 7 are affected by the untold hardship Nigerians are going through at the moment courtesy of the increase in petrol pump price.
Speaking further, Ajaero cited how the military junta under former President Ibrahim Babangida proscribed NLC, but Nigerians including Student Unions of higher institutions in Nigeria mobilised and protested until the federal government succumbed.
He said;
As Student Unionists, we protested alongside CSOs and Nigerians against the policies of the Babangida regime hence agencies like People’s Bank and others were created by the administration to ameliorate the sufferings of the citizens. Nigerians should not be docile, waiting for only NLC to lead protests.
It should be noted that the NLC, following an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) last week Tuesday, decided to go on a nationwide strike beginning today to protest the removal of fuel subsidies and the increase in petrol pump prices.
However, following long hours of negotiations with the federal government, the Labour Union announced the suspension of the strike in a communiqué issued late Monday night.
Discussion about this post