Kazeem Owoseni
The labour leaders in Ogun State, have joined the ongoing nationwide protest against the fuel subsidy removal, on Wednesday August 2, 2023.
The protested labour leaders, who were joined by civil society organizations to kick against the hardship in the country, occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, protested in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
According to Daily Post, the major roads in the city were shut down by the protesters, who are demanding the immediate reversal of all ‘anti-poor policies’ of President Tinubu’s administration.
During the protest, they described the removal of the subsidy, hike in school fees and Value Added Tax as anti-people policies in the country.
Similarly, they the medium to ask for the release of eight months of withheld salaries of university lecturers and an end to “inhuman actions” and policies of the government.
According to the Union, the policies had brought untold hardships to Nigerian workers and had also worsened the living condition of the people in the country.
Carrying different placards, the workers marched from the NLC secretariat in the Leme area of the Abeokuta metropolis to the governor’s office in Oke-Mosan, preventing free vehicular movement in the city.
Some of the inscriptions on their placards read: “Let the poor breathe, don’t suffocate them”, “Stop importation of petrol, revive the refineries now!”, “Stop the looting, tax the rich and subsidise the poor”, “Give workers what is due.”
The NLC Chairman in Ogun State, Hammed Ademola while addressing the worker, said the protest was in compliance with the directive of the national body of the union.
“We have to be on the street, we must not wait until we die, our destiny is always in our hands, and now is the right time for us to tell the government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that we Nigerians are suffering.
“The fuel subsidy removal has caused a lot of hardship, untold hardship onto the masses of this nation. We are suffering, we have crude oil yet we are still buying abroad, enough is enough,” Ademola said.
Similarly, his TUC counterpart, Akeem Lasisi, demanded the reversal of fuel subsidy, saying it is the “constitutional responsibility of any government.”
“subsidy is a global practice, so it is unfortunate in this country that our own subsidy is marred with corruption,” Lasisi said.
