WORKERS across Nigeria have threatened to shut down their services all over the country if they are attacked during a planned protest this week.
The Nigeria Labour Congress – NLC, scheduled a two-day protest starting on Tuesday, February 27, 2024.
In a statement on Sunday, the NLC accused the Federal Government of perfecting plans to disrupt the process, naming the Nigeria Civil Society Forum – NCSF, as one of the groups being primed to disrupt Tuesday’s nationwide rallies.
“All we are saying now is that; let there be food for the people, let the people live in safety, let the people live a life of dignity devoid of suffocating IMF/World Bank economic policies,” the NLC said in a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero.“We would want the State to know that the solution to our horrible economic situation and hunger is not by suppressing peaceful dissent or inflicting violence on peacefully protesting citizens as the government did in Minna and other cities where its agents tear-gassed and beat up women before locking them up for raising their voice against hunger. It does not lie in the deployment of State -sponsored terror. The pangs of hunger cannot be cowed by bullets or tear gas,’’ the group also said.
“In light of this, we at the Nigeria Labour Congress and civil society allies are moving ahead with our protest rallies against economic hardship and insecurity in line with the decision of the National Executive Council.”
“We advise the State to put on its thinking cap and find solutions to the pains it continues to cause the people instead of further dehumanising them.
“However, if it is irrevocably set on the path of violence against us and other peace-loving Nigerians, it will be making a costly mistake because if we are attacked there will be a total shutdown via withdrawal of services by workers. Let no one be deceived, we and other deprived Nigerians cannot easily be intimidated,” he added.
