Unions embark on strike, March towards Federal Secretariat 

Officials of the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC), representatives of civil society groups and concerned citizens are currently marching towards the Federal Secretariat and National Assembly. 

The March is in a bid to express their disapproval of the hike in fuel prices and the failure of the Tinubu administration to reverse what they tagged as the “unfriendly policies targeted against the poor”.

The unionists who had in their hands placards with various inscriptions such as #BringBackOurRefineries; #LetThePoorBreathe; #ALUTACONTINUA have blocked the roads leading to the Federal High Court, Transcorp Hotel; Federal Secretariat Phase 1 among others.

It was also observed that officials of the Department of State Services(DSS), and the Nigerian Police Force(NPF) among others had been stationed at respective points in order to prevent a possible hijack of the protest by non-state actors.

Already, the labour centre which has as affiliates most of the major unions in the country has vowed to sustain their “peaceful protests” until the government takes them seriously.

Reports had been going around that the government and organized labour unions have been at loggerheads following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Tinubu on May 29th, 2023. To foster negotiations, the government set up a committee to look into the demands of organized labour.

Though the committee was given two to eight weeks to come up with a suitable plan for workers and Nigerians at large, the labour leaders insisted that the committee had continued to show a lack of commitment toward their duty.

An earlier move by the labour leaders to embark on strike was resisted by the government with a court order obtained by the Ministry of Justice barring the labour unions from embarking on strike. The labour unions had tagged the injunction a “black market” injunction.