Why Labour embarked on one-day planned peaceful warning protest, 2/8/23 despite nationwide broadcast by Tinubu

By allcitynews.ng

The leadership and workers under organised labour umbrella today, 2 August 2023 carried out the planned nationwide protest with presentation of letter of demands to Federal Government through Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

But the letter was received by the Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamza.

In his remark after collecting the letter, Hamza assured speedy justice to the contents of the letter, adding that the leadership of Lagos State is equally interested and working for a better society.

“Your demands which include having a dialogue with labour will be considered after which we shall get back to you. Having better Nigeria is the goal of everyone, working together we shall get there,” the deputy governor assured.

Speaking with allcitynews.ng after the presentation of the letter, the National President of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Senior Staff Association (FOBTOB), Comrade Jimoh Oyibo, with President General, Maritime Workers Union (MUWN), Comrade (Prince) Adewale Adeyanju, in different remarks, said the protest ended today because it is only one day warning protest meant to sensitise Federal Government about the plights Nigerians have been pushed into since the subsidy removal.”

Meanwhile the NLC Lagos State Council Chairman, Comrade Funmi Sessi has called on both Federal and State governments to save the masses from dying of hunger.

Addressing the Lagos State Government through the Deputy Governor, Dr Hamza, Sessi stated that the main focus of organised labour for the protest was based on “stomach infrastructure. As you can see multitude of people here now, most of them came on long trek on empty stomach because of negative government policies.

“We want Lagos State government to come out with N30,000 for each worker since the current salary of N30, 000 has been eroded with current economic realities.”

Earlier in his address, Barrister Femi Falana {SAN} challenged members of the National Assembly to cut cost of governance.

“With the current realities, members of House of Assembly should reduce cost of governance. It is hard to believe that they are planning facelifts for the premises with over N70bn in a soceity where most people are in dire needs of basic emenities”. Is renovation of complex the most important thing at a period like this?

According to Falana, “Nigeria is not poor, this country has multiple natural resources. Our mission here today is to present this letter of protest to FG via Lagos State Government for onward transmission to FG.”

Many people may be wondering why despite the nationwide broadcast by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu {PBAT} on Monday 31st July 2023, organised labour still embarked on its planned nationwide protest on 2 August 2023.

Some people who perhaps saw this move as a mark of disrespect have been blaming labour for still going on with the protest.

However, findings by allcitynews.ng showed that labour still went on the planned protest because the nationwide address by Tinubu did not address the concern of labour, which is immediate or instant solutions to the plight of the masses people.

That address could be seen as forcing a man to drive vehicle which had no single tyre or like putting a cart before a horse, NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, concerned that the nationwide address did not touch expectations of the union, which includes bringing instant solutions to the current hunger and condition of living people are going through went ahead with the warning protest.

Irked that Tinubu did not come out with what can better the lots of the masses, the union with civil societies stormed the entire country with the planned warning protest.

Apparently, sure that it is very hard to convince a person who have no food on the table for today and had not eaten in the last two days to patiently wait for farm produces that would take weeks to mature, Ajaero called on President Tinubu to come out with palliatives to prune the effects of the subsidy removal.

Noting that patience is becoming impatience because of current conditions, Comrade {Prince Adewale Adeyanju} said he wondered how a man on empty stomach who had nothing to eat now, will be told or be convinced to wait for grains that are yet to planted.

Wondering how Tinubu as father of the nation wants poor masses to cope without adequate provistions whereby majority of the people now trek very long distances on empty stomach because of government policies summersaults, Ajaero and Adeyanju called for urgent solutions.

The duo, Ajaero and his deputy, Adeyanju, and FOBTOB president, Comrade Oyibo on seperate foras expressed their worries over the BAT promised N75bn to fund enterprises at single digits (9%) per annum; N125bn to be set aside to energize MSMEs; 200,000 metric tonnes of grains to be released; 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to be provided for farmers  could meet the needs of people that have already been pushed to the wall with hunger and lack of purchasing power.

Citing the current stress people are going through as reason for the actualisation of the planned protest, Ajaero, Adeyanju and Oyibo noted that though FG has promised to provide N50 billion to cultivate 150,000 hectares of rice and maize; N50bn be made available to cultivate 100,000 hectares of wheat and cassava; N100bn to acquire 3000 units of 20-seater CNG-fuelled buses; minimum wage to be reviewed, etc,  yet such moves are only long time solutions at the neglect of the current remedies which the masses need most to enable them survive to enjoy the fulfilment of those promises. Hence the warning protest still took place.

The protest in Lagos started at 7am from under the bridge of computer village to Governor’s office at exactly 10.45am.

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