The organised labour in Nasarawa State has joined the nationwide protest against the hike in the price of petrol in the aftermath of the Federal Government’s removal of fuel subsidy.
The unions, consisting the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), led the protest march from Total Filling Station, Lafia, to the Office of the Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe.
Speaking at the event on Wednesday in Lafia, Comrade Ismaila Oko, NLC Chairman, called on the Federal Government to reconsider the action in view of the hardship being experienced by the workers and the masses.
The NLC chair said that the Federal Government should immediately take measures that would improve the lots of Nigerians before things get out of control.
“Since the subsidy was removed, workers now spend their entire salaries on transport fares to their offices.
“Workers can no longer cater for the school fees of their children, feed their family members and meet up to other responsibilities in the family,” Oko said.
On his part, Comrade Mohammed Doma, TUC Chairman, urged the government to act fast to address the fuel hike.
He wondered why the citizens of a country that was producing petroleum would be buying petrol at an exorbitant price that the citizens could not afford.
“Our salaries cannot take care of our transportation to our offices, we are suffering,” the TUC Chairman noted.
The union submitted a protest letter to the Head of Civil Service, Ms Abigail Waya, who lauded them for conducting themselves peacefully.
Waya said that already both the Federal Government and the Nasarawa government had constituted committees to work out palliatives for the citizenry.
She promised to brief Governor Abdullahi Sule about their issues and to submit their letter to him.
