‘Dialogue with them’ – Ajaero advises Tinubu on how to avert proposed protest

President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has advised President Bola Tinubu to dialogue with the leadership of the groups planning to stage protests over the prevailing hardship in the country for talks, as it is their right to protest if they so wish.

Ajaero, in a statement he crafted personally and sent to the media in Abuja on Monday, said the truth is that millions of Nigerians are angry about the state of the national economy.

According to the NLC boss, a situation where most Nigerian families are forced to eat one miserable meal a day, whereby eating from the dustbin is now seen as a luxury, calls for a serious intervention by government.

While corroborating a recent country living standards index assessment by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, which established that about 133 million Nigerians live below extreme poverty lines, Ajaero said the International Rescue Committee, IRC, posits that in the first three quarters of 2024, about 32 million Nigerians have been exposed to acute hunger.

In his words, when these statistics are added to the millions that are being recruited into the armies of the unemployed and underemployed Nigerians, one can easily situate the hardship, pain, frustrations and despair that many Nigerians are going through right now.

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He said: “The truth is that Nigerians have been hard pushed and super pressed right against the walls of deep deprivation and acute want.

It is, therefore, condescending and dismissive to describe the daily brutish ordeal that Nigerians are going through as sponsored political dissent. Even if it is so, it is still within the confines of citizens’ rights to protest on political grounds.

“Just that the current unease in the country does not need political motivation to spark and splurge. All that the hurting citizens demand from their government is a listening ear and an empathetic heart. Maybe that is what the organisers of the protest are looking for, given their continued notices on different social media platforms.

“It is very difficult to tell a Nigerian who has lost his or her job due to the current economic downturn to maintain their cool. It is very tough to advise a nursing mother who is unsure of the next meal for her suckling child to be at ease. It is a herculean task to demand patience from a youth who has been out of school for the past six years without a job and is burdened with aged parents to cater for.”

The NLC President said that during these very difficult times, the right of Nigerians to complain must be fully respected. The organised labour movement, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress, has had cause in recent times to protest against the crushing suffering in the land brought about by the harsh economic policies of government including the astronomical hike in the price of refined petroleum products, the increase in the cost of electricity and the unavailability of the same, the unconscientious raise and duplication of user access charges to most public utilities, including hospital treatment, water, waste disposal and a general spike in the cost of living.

Sounding a note of warning to the Federal Government, he said it is the well-considered position of the Congress that bellicosity and hostility towards the protesters and other aggrieved Nigerians do not offer any tangible remedy either to the pain endured by the populace or the frustrations of having so little in a country where a few privileged persons are living in obscene luxury, especially at the expense of the majority.

His words: “As the date for the widely reported national protest looms, the Nigeria Labour Congress urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invite the leadership of the protest movement for discussions on their grievances.

“These are dire times. Nigerians are angry. The times require government to “jaw-jaw” and not “war war” with Nigerians. The truth is that you cannot smack a child and, at the same time, ask the child not to cry. A stitch in time might still save nine. Solidarity forever.”