As more Nigerians continue to react to the recent increase in fuel prices, the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, with other organised labour says its NEC has decided that there will be a national protest action commencing from the 10th of March 2021 in the Federal Capital Territory and especially to the National Assembly.
The union made this known at the
National Executive Council, NEC, of the Nigeria Labour Congress emergency virtual meeting held in Abuja yesterday, assuring that the protest is to make a strong statement that Nigerian workers would not lie low and watch hard-fought rights that are of global standards bastardized by opportunistic and narrow thinking politicians.
The NLC President Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the NEC resolved that the national protest action will be concurrently held in all the 36 states of the federation and to the different State Houses of Assembly across Nigeria.
He further said that the NEC also decided that should the need arise; it has empowered the National Administrative Council of the NLC to declare and enforce a national strike action especially if the legislators continue on the ruinous path of moving the National Minimum Wage from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List.
Comrade Wabba said they condemned and rejected in its entirety the ploy to decentralize Nigeria’s judiciary through the establishment of
State Judicial Councils describing the move as unpatriotic, self-serving and an attempt to throw Nigeria into judicial and social chaos;
On the current hoarding of petrol and the attendant scarcity, the NEC called on relevant regulatory agencies of government to rise up to the protection of the interests of the majority of Nigerians from the exploitative hands of market forces who are bent on making maximal profits from the sufferings of fellow citizens.
They, therefore, warned that should the current artificial scarcity persist that the various leadership structures of the NLC should picket petrol stations found to be inflicting pains on Nigerians; and
According to the NLC boss, he said the NEC has resolved that all the resolutions and decisions adopted at the emergency meeting should be pursued in collaboration with the Trade Union Congress TUC, in the overall interest of all Nigerian workers.
The NEC also reiterated the point that the national minimum wage is a product of negotiations between Labour, the Organized Private Sector and Government (represented by state governments, the federal government and relevant departments, agencies and parastatals), and paying it is not a favour to workers. And that before agreeing on the national minimum wage, a number of issues are taken into consideration during negotiations with data provided by appropriate government agencies. At the end of negotiations, the final outcome on the national minimum wage is reasonable, realistic and implementable. Precedence shows that ability to pay is not dependent on surplus resources but on prudence, financial discipline, and the will to pay.
