NLC insists on going ahead with the protest

The organized labor on Monday insisted on going ahead with its planned protest over the removal of petroleum subsidy. Rising from another round of meetings of the Steering Committee on palliatives at the presidential villa, Abuja, they also expressed doubts about President Bola Tinubu’s ability to control inflation and gasoline prices due to the unification of the exchange rate.

Speaking to correspondents, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, said the plan for workers to proceed on a peaceful protest from Wednesday has not changed. He dismissed fears that the peaceful protest could be hijacked by hoodlums, saying that such had never happened in the history of workers’ protest.

However, he said it is the responsibility of security agencies to provide security for the protest to protect the workers. He said the meeting of the Steering Committee adjourned till 12 noon on Tuesday to enable the labor leaders to listen to the president’s national broadcast on Monday.

However, reacting to Tinubu’s plan to intervene on the exchange rate of inflation and high cost of gasoline prices, Ajaero said: “By the time you have a single market 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 dollars at about 900 (naira)? Are you going to tell him to sell below the price?

“How are you going to tell even NEPA today, with the cost of production not to increase tariff? Even corn in the villages that was sold at N18,000 by February, now it’s about 56,000. How are you going to control it?”

On his side, the Chief of Staff to the President said that issues were trashed at the closed-door meeting and that they adjourned to listen to the President’s broadcast. He also said that the government is dealing with the oil cabals that have brought the economy to its knees.