The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC says the federal government’s draconian policies are killing workers and Nigerians in general.
The Kogi State Chairman of the NLC, Gabriel Amari said this on Tuesday at the National protest rally against economic hardship, hunger, poverty and insecurity in the Country held in Lokoja.
Amari particularly mentioned that the protest is not a coup or threat to the Kogi State Government but targeted at the Federal Government to stop their obnoxious policies which are causing untold hardship for the people.
“We are here to tell the whole world that Nigerians are dying because of the draconian policies of the Federal Government. The adoption of IMF and World Bank policies that led to the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency has put the entire Nigeria in crisis.
” You can see that there is no food. There is hunger everywhere. People can no longer attend to their health needs or sponsor their Children to School. Nigerians have now turned to beggars because they can’t provide for their immediate family. People are losing their jobs on a daily basis.
“We can’t fold our hands in the same country we call ours for a selected few people to come up with policies that are dangerous and detrimental to the lives of Nigerians.
“That is why the leadership has come up with this protest to tell the whole world that we are hungry and the Federal Government should reverse their policies. The policies are against us” he stated.
The NLC Chairman, however, commended Kogi Workers for coming out in large numbers to protest, insisting that the protest will continue tomorrow Wednesday in line with the national directive of the union.
Adding his voice, the immediate past Chairman of the NLC in Kogi State, Onuh Edoka while aligning himself with the positions of his successor, called on the Federal Government to fix the nation’s refinery, invest more in agriculture and fight corruption to the barest minimum.
According to him, “The Federal Government should know that people are dying because of the hardship in our country. We can’t pretend as if all is well with us. All is not well. Some policies of the government are anti-people, which must stop now. It is high time the Government holds the bull by the horns to fix our refineries, invest massively in agriculture and ensure that they kill corruption from our system”.
Arogidigba Global Journal learnt that the protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as stop percentage pension to local government pensioners, double allocation to politicians, renewed hunger for the poor, end hunger and poverty, reject IMF, world bank policy, We want free education and not students loan amongst others.