Economic activities in Akure, the Ondo state capital was partially paralyzed on Wednesday following a peaceful protest staged by some of the organised Labour members in the state chapter over the removal of fuel subsidy.
The unions include members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) among others.
The protest was only attended by the leaders of these unions while their members, particularly the civil servants were seen at the entrance gates of their various offices.
Some of the workers said they could not join the protest because their own leaders have not been sincere about their welfares.
They blamed the NLC for not doing enough in the payment of the five months salaries which the state government is owing them.
But the workers said they were surprised over their leaders’ actions on the fuel hike price.
Some of the banks in the state capital, who earlier opened for business activities quickly locked their offices when the unions began the protest.
Members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the state chapter did not participate in the protest following the directives from its national body.
The State NLC Secretary, Mr. Adewale Sanusi, said the non-participation of TUC does not affect the strike action,
Sanusi stated this when addressing reporters during the protest.
According to him, it was surprising to the union to hear about the withdrawal of the TUC from the industrial action few hours before the commencement of the strike on Wednesday .
He said, ” Surprisingly this morning we were told that the TUC had backed out of the strike for the reason best known to them but as far as the NLC is concerned, we are complying with the directive of our union, so the strike continues. ”
He added that “as far as Ondo State is concerned, our members totally complied. The NURTW instructed all the drivers in the state to stay off the road. Anybody in the state or coming to the state would definitely know that strike is going on here.
“What we want is that the government should revert the price of petrol . We are on this strike to ensure that this government is people-oriented and responsible to the people they represented.
“We didn’t vote them there to compound our suffering. People are being owed five months salaries, there is nothing they can do other than to increase the price of fuel that is what we said we don’t want. “
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