Comrade Joe Ajaero, the newly elected president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has vowed to take drastic action if the federal government fails to address the problems Nigerians are facing due to the lack of redesigned Naira notes.
Comrade Ajaero said this after his inauguration as the Union’s President yesterday (Wednesday).
He stated that Nigerians cannot continue to suffer as a result of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s currency redesign.
“We will lead the battle to reclaim Nigeria from the front. In this spirit, the NLC urges the federal government to take immediate action by making cash available. If nothing is done before the end of next week, we shall be forced to take necessary steps.
“NLC shall ensure that Nigerians are protected from all anti-people policies and that plunder in governance are reduced to the barest minimum while government is assisted to work for the majority. We shall therefore robustly engage government to stop the impunity and pervasive wickedness currently going on in the country in the name of Petroleum Product Pricing.
“The usurpation and use of state power to impoverish the citizenry abuses the ideals of democracy and destroys the nation. Governance ought to provide comfort for the citizenry. So, it pains us to witness the increasing frustration Nigerians have had to go through in the last few months just to fuel their cars and generators, the new phenomenon of black market Naira-buying our own monies at a discount from illegal brokers,” he said.
Ajaero said further: “We shall seek to reconnect more strongly to build greater solidarities with the people of Nigeria rising once again to be the carriers of their desires and amplifiers of their voices. We shall not only speak for the 133 million Nigerians who are multi-dimensionally poor but also seek platforms to lift the shackles of poverty from the shoulders of our people. We shall once again be the true champions of the Nigerian people, crying their cries and jointly waging our wars against all forces of impoverishment and misery.”
President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an emergency Council of State meeting scheduled for Friday to address the issues.