The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has threatened to shut Ekiti State on Saturday to enforce compliance with the nationwide strike embarked upon to protest the hike in the fuel price.
The union staged a street protest in Ado Ekiti on Friday in coalition with Joint Action Front with a warning to financial institutions, traders and artisans to stay at home in obedience to the strike action.
NLC Chairman in the state, Raymond Adesanmi told DAILY POST that there will be total shutdown of the state on Saturday.
He said, “There is a directive from the national headquarters to embark on strike. Unfortunately, there are dissidents. Federal Government has succeeded in sowing seed of discord among the labour unions. But we are telling them, in united we stand. Nothing will divide us.
“It seems to some people the labour is divided but that is not true. We are not saying that subsidy should not be removed but that the labour as a stakeholder must be carried along.
“The Federal Government should explain whether there is still subsidy or not. If the price of fuel was N86.50k per litre and the government said it was subsidising it for N13, if you add that together, it does not amount to N145. We are thinking that the government is deceiving us.”
When asked if the union would picket offices on Friday, Adesanmi said it was not in the agenda.
“We are not picketing. The message we are taking to people anywhere we notice they open is that as from tomorrow, every office must be shut down. Whoever loses his property should not blame us because we have warned them enough.
“What we are doing is not for workers alone. All shops, hospital and offices must be closed as from tomorrow. We are shutting the state.”
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