The meeting between representatives of the Federal Government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ended in stalemate, dealing a fatal blow to the federal government’s last-ditch attempt to stop the planned strike.
NLC President Joe Ajaero insisted that the protest against the current state of the economy would go on as scheduled nationwide today.
Already, pockets of protests had broken out in Kano, Niger, Oyo, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Borno and Osun, among other States, with protesters urging the government to take decisive steps to bring the hardship to an end.
The leadership of the NLC had declared a two-day nationwide protest for February 27 and 28 after government failed to implement some of the agreements reached with the Congress.
Labour-Civil Society Front, a coalition of eminent civil society leaders and groups, declared its support for today’s protest. The group is dedicated to collaborating with the labour movement on pro-people and pro-poor issues.
At the meeting held in an effort to stop the NLC strike, the federal government was represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi; Minister of State Labour, Hon Nkiruka Onyejeocha; Minister of Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Minister of Finance, Olawale Edun; Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Bagudu Atiku; and Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan.
The organised labour was represented at the closed-door by National President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, and his team, while the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was led by Festus Osifo.
But the labour unions stuck to their guns, insisting the strike will go ahead, with the scheduled protests billed for today and tomorrow in Abuja and other parts of the country. This was despite a warning against the protests by the Department of State Services (DSS), which claimed they could jeopardise national security.
Ajaero confirmed labour’s stance when he spoke to reporters after the meeting.
When asked on the warning from the DSS, he said: “I would say despite the warning from the DSS, the rally goes on, but it is part of their (security agencies) constitutional responsibility to make sure that the rally is peaceful.
“And while we are going to try our own side to make sure it’s a peaceful rally, that’s all.”
When asked on the unions protesting at the National Assembly, Ajaero said: “Usually, there is no rally that we just do for the sake of walking around. We have demands that we present. Maybe by Tuesday when we present these demands, a copy of it will be made public.”
NLC invited the media to the kick-off of the protest rallies.
A notice by NLC posted on its platform last night stated that the protest would take-off from the Labour House, headquarters of NLC, by 7am.
A coalition of civil society leaders and groups collaborating with the labour movement declared support for the national protest by NLC.
The group’s position was contained in a statement jointly signed by its national spokesperson, Comrade (Amb) Nkoyo Toyo (Labour-Civil Society Front), Mallam Hamisu San Turaki (United Action Front of Civil Society), and Convener, Country First Movement, Professor Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia.
The coalition said it was constrained “to state unequivocally that we are unwavering in our support to the organised labour and, therefore, fully endorse the nationwide mass protest on hardship slated to hold on Tuesday, 27th and Wednesday, 28th February 2024.
“Consequently, we urge our teeming members and allies across Nigeria to join and participate fully in the peaceful national protest to draw government’s attention to the unmitigated sufferings and impoverishment of Nigerians foisted by the mindless implementation of dehumanising economic policies of governments at both national and sub-national levels of the country.”
The statement said the decision to align with organised labour on the mass action did not have any political, ethnic or religious colouration, as hunger, declining health and orchestrated deaths ravaging Nigerian citizens, were not discriminatory on the grounds of political affiliation, ethnic and religious sentiments.
A human rights group, “Take It Back Movement,” began a nationwide protest in Lagos against the economic hardship being experienced in the country, in spite of a warning by the state Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade.
The Police Spokesperson in Lagos, Benjamin Hundeyin, had in a statement on Sunday quoted Fayoade as warning intending protesters against violence or acts that could infringe on the rights of others, such as obstruction of traffic and paralysing the commercial activities in the state.
Fayoade assured residents of Lagos State that necessary security measures had been put in place to protect lives and property, with or without any protest.
However, a day to the proposed date of the rallies by labour, the “Take It Back Movement” shunned police warning and took to Ojuelegba under-bridge area of the state to register their displeasure at the growing hardship in the country.