The scheduled nationwide protest organized by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to storm all the legislative chambers of the 35 states of Nigeria was held in Abia state on Wednesday morning.
The Abia state chapter of the NLC took to the streets of Umuahia and matched to the Abia state house of Assembly Complex to comply with the schedule nationwide protest.
The NLC comrades took off from Ikot-Ekpene road carrying placards of various inscriptions.
Speaking to newsmen on the reason for the protest, the Chairman of the Abia state chapter NLC, Comrade Eze Idima, said ” we came to express our feelings and rejection for removal of minimum wage from exclusive list into the concurrent legislative list.
“We know that exclusive list are those list that the federal government legislate on, therefore, removing the minimum wage from the exclusive list to the concurrent list will not be good to Nigerian workers.
“Now we have it in the exclusive list, it has been very difficult for some state government to pay, let alone when it’s given to them, that means they are not going to give our members living wage and if they can’t get a living wage, it means they are not going to be productive and if they are not productive, the economy will suffer.
“And because we don’t want that to happen, the organized labour is saying no to removal of minimum wage from exclusive list to concurrent list”. Comrade Idima said.
The protesting workers also exercise displeasure on the increasing and unstable pump price of fuel.
“Tomorrow it will be 160 per litre, the next day it will be 175, the other day it will be 200 naira per litre, we are saying that government should repair our refineries and build new ones so that fuel in Nigeria will not be costlier in Nigeria than even the country that buys it.
“And because of this incessant increase, the wage of workers cannot even take them for even two weeks. This is because most of them spend what they earn on transportation and their employer wants them to be in the office everyday. How can someone with such shortages come to work? And if they don’t come to work, it affects productivity. We are saying let the mentioned comes down so that our workers can go to work regularly.” Comrade Idama added.
The protesting workers also express displeasure in the interference of the activities of the judicial councils.
“The judicial council as provided in the constitution is the body responsible for the appointment of Chief Judge of states and other high courts, we are saying we don’t want it to be removed from the exclusive list to the concurrent list so that under the national assembly, laws can be made for it because if you give it to the State, the governor will determine who will be the chief Judge. Thus, it will not allow for justice because they will now give it to their acronyms or people who are loyal to them.” Comrade Idima said.
The workers also complained about the increase in electricity tariff.
“Every month they don’t bring the bill that matches with the power they supply. It’s always a very high estimated bill which workers cannot afford and if you don’t pay, they will disconnect you. We cannot continue like that. We are saying that the government should give us metre so that we can pay according to what we consume, not by estimated bill.
“The organized Labour is taking this measures peacefully because we are law abiding citizens, but after today, if government does not respond to our demands, we will have no choice than to luck up the economy by withdrawing all the services of our members in all the strata of the economy .” Comade Idima Warned.
The protesting workers were however not addressed by any member of the Abia state assembly before they returned to their secretariat.
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