Citizens from all works of life came out in their thousands in Jos, the Plateau State Capital to protest the removal of fuel subsidy and the current economic hardship in the country.
The peaceful protest led by the Nigerian Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress, ASUU, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Student Unions and government bodies of various Institutions in the state, started from the secretariat junction flyover bridge to both the state and federal secretariats.
There was also a high presence of security operatives, notably the police and NSCDC, led by the Commissioner of Police in the State, Bartholomew Onyeka.
Addressing the crowd, the Chairman of NLC in the state, Comrade Eugene Manji, said, “We are here today on a protest embarked upon by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), ASSU Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Student Union Government bodies of various Institutions in Plateau State. Plateau State is part of that protest and that is why we are here.
“The protest is because of the poor policies of the government what we’re facing and what we are going to face in the future nobody can understand.
“Now September is close by and I wonder how parents are going pay the school fees of their children, is part of the danger of what we are facing.
“The increase in pump price is another part of it, when we were talking, people thought we were antagonising government. Shortly before you know we were at N537 and with skyrocketed moves to N617.
“The economy is driven by foreign policies and we have advised the government to look into this by putting measures before the removal of subsidy because this is the consequences we were talking about. People refused to see reason with the position of labour, here we are practically facing”, he decried.
“What we are saying is that while you removed the subsidy, fix our refineries and refine our petrol and ensure everything is sold in Nigeria naira and kobo, once you buy today you will be rest assured of what price you’re going to buy tomorrow.
“But because you take the crude oil and refine it in the international market, bringing it and selling it in hard currencies, today the transportation is zero, insecurity in the country you can’t quantify it, we want to put a stop to that, our government should hear the cry of Nigerians, we elected them. We are going far with this protest if not you won’t see us here”, Manji maintained.
Also speaking, the TUC chairman in the state, Comrade Kenneth Shammah said, “This is the first time in the history of Unionism where Labour was able to put a chatter of demands with solutions attached to it and we sent our demands to the government and we ask them because we gave them a practical and holistic approach in which they can be able to fix these things.
“This rally sincerely when it gets to protest the government will feel the heat. We say let the poor breathe, how do we go about that?
“We have a very simple template for them to follow because we know this system and understand the system. The sector I’m coming from is the most hit by these policies, but they’re going behind criticising this template”, he explained.
“Instead government went behind to obtain a Court injunction restraining Labour from going on strike. And we say no problem, we are not going on strike but let everybody who feels he is being suffocated by the policies of the government that want to breathe should come out let us protest, is not about NLC or TUC but about Nigerians, let us breath and breath together, this is our country”, he maintained.
In his remarks, CP Onyeka commended the Unions for being organised and peaceful.
He said, “Prior to this day, I have made my research and discovered that NLC and TUC protest has always been peaceful in this state, so u must commend you to continue to be peaceful in your conduct.
He admonished all citizens to continue to be peaceful and collaborate with security operatives to rid the state of crime and criminality.
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