United Action Front of Civil Society, has backed the proposed 2-day warning strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, over the removal of fuel subsidies by the federal government, its policies that have pushed many households into extreme poverty lines.
It urged the “working people to comply with the directive of the NLC, while the masses of the Nigerian civil society demonstrate support for Labour by holding complimentary mass action to draw home their displeasure about the inhuman treatment of Nigerian citizens through sudden unilateral removal of fuel subsidy and the ill-conceived economic policies of government”.
A statement signed by the Head, of the National Coordinating Centre, Wale Okunniyi, the United Action Front of Civil Society, on Monday, said, “The leadership of the organized civil society, therefore, wishes to unequivocally decry these mindless policies of the federal government, which have further pushed millions of households that were hitherto managing to cope with their meager incomes, below the poverty line, therefore compelling our patriotic call on Nigerians in the public and private sectors to team up with the NLC in demanding the reversal of the asphyxiating policies being implemented unilaterally without justification or any concrete economic plan beyond making Nigerians pay for the corrupt mismanagement of the subsidy scheme, which incidentally has been admitted by the government itself.
“We also wish to reiterate that the so-called palliatives for the fuel subsidy removal being financed through a World Bank loan to be paid back with interest by the Nigerian people, is another device by the ruling class to further fleece the already pauperized masses of the country in continuation of the culture of profligacy through which the Buhari administration plunged Nigeria into debt being serviced by over 90% of the Nation’s revenue.
“Rather than further push Nigeria deeper into bankruptcy; because our Foreign Reserve is currently below 4 billion dollars, which marks the worst downturn in the history of the country’s economy, the Tinubu regime should be demanding accountability from those who mismanaged the fuel importation regime and depleted Nigeria’s Foreign Reserve to an abysmal level.
“The Tinubu administration has no reasonable justification for insisting on arbitrary fuel price hike when those who pilfered the national treasury in the name of subsidy payment are walking the streets of Nigeria free; with some of them still calling the shot in the present administration.
“We make bold to challenge the Tinubu government to demand accountability for the fraudulent fuel subsidy payments and wasteful debt servicing policy of the preceding Buhari administration if it genuinely wishes to be taken seriously by Nigerians.
“Again, it speaks to barefaced insincerity for the government to subject the citizens to harrowing hardship in the name of fuel subsidy removal and currency floating, which are all conceived in the desperation to extort innocent Nigerians in recouping the huge sums of revenues that have been wasted through poor policy and outright stealing by high profile individuals which should not be beyond being called to account and prosecuted.”
“With the minimum wage remaining at N30,000 monthly, Nigerian workers who were grossly underpaid before the hike in fuel price can no longer cope with the harrowing hardship in the country just as millions of unemployed citizens across the states have now been grossly impoverished,” it added.
Last week, NLC stated that it was going on a 2-day warning strike from Tuesday and Wednesday, 5th and 6th of September 2023 to show its readiness to embark on a nationwide strike later in the month over the unwillingness of the federal government to engage with the organizations and other workers rights violation experienced in many States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Source: Sahara Reporters
