NLC to protest on Thursday despite fuel subsidy removal

The Nigeria Labour Congress said it would not back out from its plan to stage a nationwide protest on Thursday despite the suspension of fuel subsidy announced by the Federal Government.

The Minister of Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, had at the National Assembly announced that fuel subsidy has been suspended by the Federal government.

Despite this, NLC said it would carry out its rally as planned. 

This was confirmed by the Assistant General Secretary, NLC, Asuzu Echezona, who said “We are continuing with preparation for the protests,”.

Speaking in the same direction, the Ogun State Chairman of the NLC, Emmanuel Bankole, also said the planned protest would hold.

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According to him, “The congress observed a game plan and deceit in the new development hence, there is no going back in the planned protest scheduled in the state against the plan by the Federal Government.

“We are aware (of the suspension of the fuel subsidy removal).  We are going ahead with the Thursday protest.  There is no going back.”

It was gathered that the union leader would need to hold a meeting before the protest could be called off.

The NLC National Chairman, Ayuba Waba, has lambasted the Federal Government over its failure to manage the nation’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones.

He spoke in a statement released on Monday to the journalists.

“It is tragic and shameful that Nigeria is about the only OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Producing Countries) country that cannot refine her crude oil,” Ayuba said.

It was also added that the government should re-engage the organised labour in discussions to find “mutually acceptable solutions to the current quagmire in Nigeria’s downstream petroleum sub-sector.”

The statement added that “The Federal Government should announce the withdrawal of its plans to increase the pump price of petrol.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that the perennial increase of the pump price of petrol and other refined petroleum products by the government is actually a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern to the poor masses of our country.

“Central to this is the failure of the government to manage Nigeria’s four oil refineries and inability to build new ones. It is tragic and shameful that Nigeria is about the only OPEC country that cannot refine her own crude oil.”

Meanwhile, the NLC has written to the Federal Capital Territory Police Command on its mass rally holding on Thursday.

The spokesperson, FCT police command, DSP Josephine Adeh, while confirming this on Monday, explained that congress did not need a police permit for its rally.