THE leaders of the National Labour Congress (NLC) have affirmed that it will hold its planned nationwide protest on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, despite Monday’s rollout of subsidy removal palliative plans by President Bola Tinubu.
According to media reports, Tinubu, in a national broadcast, unveiled a N500bn palliative for manufacturers, small businesses and farmers while releasing plans to increase salaries and acquire 3,000 mass transit buses.
Despite the President’s last-minute moves to avert the protest, the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said the rally would hold in line with its schedule.
Ajaero spoke shortly after talks between organised labour and the Federal Government on Monday, July 31, 2023, became inconclusive.
The Presidential Steering Committee on Palliatives meeting between the government and labour was held at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Ajaero allayed the fears that the peaceful protest could be taken over by hoodlums, saying that such had never happened in any of its workers’ protests.
However, he said security agencies were responsible for safeguarding workers in such exercises.
Reacting to Tinubu’s economic reforms, especially on the exchange rate and others, Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market (exchange rate) and you are not having anything that has a comparative advantage, your energy is import driven, then how are you going to control it?
“How are you going to control somebody that exchanged dollar at about N900? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?
“How are you going to tell even the Discos not to increase their tariff with the high cost of production today? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18,000 in February; now it’s about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”
