The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has given a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government to address the current fuel and Naira scarcity in the country, failing which members shall be mobilised for a nationwide industrial action.
The President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, stated this while briefing journalists at Labour House on the outcome of a meeting convened by the Central Working Committee of the congress on Monday.
He said the union will declare a nationwide strike and mass action if the two major problems are not addressed after seven days.
“This is because it has become very difficult to access even one Naira, especially by traders who do not have bank accounts.
“We have also discovered that even when banks give out old currencies, they cannot be spent. Even when you take them back to the same banks, they do not accept them.
“We have been frustrated to a level that we can no longer keep quiet,’’ Ajaero warned.
The NLC president also lamented difficulties experienced at petrol stations.
“At fuel stations where there is petrol, it sells for as much as N350 a litre in some parts of the country.
“We will no longer be quiet about this issue of perennial fuel scarcity and arbitrary increase in prices,’’ he said.
On the on-going state council elections of the NLC, Ajaero said some state governors are interfering with the process.
“Some state governors now dictate to the NLC through the chairmen in those states,’’ he said.
He alleged that a governor in one of the states in the Southeast openly campaigned that NLC members should vote for a particular candidate.
He explained that NLC’s attempt to resist the approach was met with the manhandling of its officers by hoodlums engaged by the state government.
“They disrupted our election in that state. Our state secretariat has been destroyed by thugs sent by the governor.
“The thugs took over that place for three months. The state chairman of the NLC was driven out of the state,’’ he said.
