THE scheduled strike by government workers across the country is to liberate Nigerians from the shackles of government policies which have caused citizens pain, the Nigeria Labour Congress – NLC, has said.
It follows an earlier seven-day ultimatum by the NLC to President Bola Tinubu’s administration to reverse “all anti-poor” policies, including the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol.
NLC president, Joe Ajaero said on Wednesday that the union was still analysing the situation with the possibility that the government policy could further plague already dire conditions.
“The situation would be worsened. It is rather a move to rescue Nigerians, to see whether the government can show some level of empathy for us to do things differently to enable Nigerians to survive,” he said on Channels TV on Wednesday.
Ajaero said that the imminent industrial action is to reduce the impact the government’s policies have had on the people at large.
“It can’t get worse than it is today. The impact we are talking of is either the impact on commodities or the impact on the people,” he said.
“What we are resisting, what we are fighting against, is the impact on the people and the impact is so much. It is worse.”
He bemoaned that policies laid down by the government that ought to be advantageous to the economy were biting hard on the people.
“I don’t know what other consideration one can look at, every government policy in a nation is aimed at benefiting the nation,” the labour leader lamented.
“The naira is gone, economic activity is gone, foodstuff gone. (In terms of) movement, you can’t move, and transportation is gone.”
According to a communiqué at the end of its Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting held on Tuesday, the NLC threatened to embark on a total and indefinite strike starting Wednesday, August 2, 2023, should the Federal Government fail to do the needful.
