Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has accused President Buhari’s led All Progressive Congress (APC) government of failing to deliver on its campaign promises to the electorate, and threatened to declare a one-day nationwide strike to protest what it called, ‘the current economic hardship’ the people were been subjected to.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, while declaring open the union’s central working committee (CWC) meeting on Wednesday said, Buhari’s government has failed on several fronts in his campaign promises to the people.
He said the union would protest the government’s insistence to effect the hike in tariff of electricity and the current fuel scarcity which has imposed hardship on the people.
Though the union leader was silent on when the nationwide strike would be, he also disclosed that NLC would kick against all anti-labour laws about to be enacted by Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
Meanwhile human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) while speaking at the same event supported the planned nationwide protest, saying that, “Nigerians did not vote for change for suffering.”
“We didn’t vote change for agony, we didn’t vote change for tyranny, we fully endorse NLC resolution for the strike”, he said.
The human right activist cum senior lawyer lamented that the entire petroleum sector including: the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF); Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the nation’s oil company and its subsidiaries were enmeshed in naked abuse of transparency and accountability rules embedded in their Acts.
On the PEF, Falana said: “That body does not perform its functions, the cabal is there, so nothing has been done.”
Falana also accused the judiciary and some senior lawyers of frustrating the ongoing anti-corruption fight by the government.
He pointed out that the labour movement would have to “lead Nigerians to take on that battle”, stressing that “Nigerian lawyers are going to frustrate anti-corruption cases if labour allows their manipulation, and nobody is going to be jailed by 2019”.
