ORGANIZED LABOUR IN DELTA JOINS NATIONWIDE PROTEST AGAINST ANTI-GOVT POLICIES
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, in Delta State, on Wednesday joined the nationwide protest by Organized Labour against the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu without due consultations.
The State Chairman of the NLC, Comrade Goodluck Ofobruku, his TUC counterpart, Comrade Martin Bolum and the Deputy President, RATTAWU, Comrade Innocent Ofuonyeadi, led members of their affiliate unions in the protest, which started from the Labour House, through NTA road, Okpanam road to Government House, Asaba.
The protesting workers carried placards with different inscriptions connoting dissatisfaction with the subsidy removal and the attendant hardship on the people, chanting solidarity songs as they marched through the streets.
In a position paper presented to the State Governor, Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, at the Government House gate, the State NLC Chairman, Comrade Ofobruku, accused the Tinubu administration of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians, especially the workers whose salaries were fixed.
Comrade Ofobruku said removing fuel subsidy without consulting the relevant stakeholders and damning the socioeconomic consequences on the already impoverished majority of Nigerians was choking, hence the protest to prevail on government to allow Nigerians, especially the workers, to breath.
He said Delta state workers were on the same page with their counterparts cross the country on the matter, insisting that the palliatives announced by the President were not sufficient to address the challenges triggered by the fuel subsidy removal.
The NLC Chairman called on Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori to take the position of Delta state workers to President Tinubu and urged the Governor to urgently put in place measures that would alleviate the sufferings of the workers and Deltans in general.
Comrade Ofobruku thanked the security agencies for being on the side of the workers by ensuring that the protest was not violent nor hijacked, assuring them that the protest was in the interest of all Nigerians.
Addressing the workers, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, represented by his Chief Policy Adviser, Rt. Hon (Chief) Funkekeme Solomon, thanked them for their peaceful conduct, which he said was the best way to go about their grievance.
The Governor admitted that the removal of fuel subsidy had made life increasingly difficult for Nigerians, especially the workers, and assured them that the Delta State Government shared in their pains and would do everything possible to ameliorate the situation.
