IZUNNA OKAFOR
Public institution and institutions in Anambra State were under lock and key in compliance with the two-day warning strike of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which started on Tuesday.
The 48-hour nationwide strike was declared by the NLC was in protest against the Federal Government’s failure to address the challenges caused by the removal of fuel subsidies.
When this reporter toured round the Awka metropolis for situation report and the rate of compliance to the strike in Anambra State, it was observed that while there’s a boom in commercial activities and in human/vehicular movements; banks, government agencies, offices at the State Secretariat, and many other public institutions are under lock and key.
On their own side, the NLC Chairman in the State State, Comrade Humphrey Emeka Nwafor, who led the leadership of the Congress in the State to paste notice of the warning strike on entrance gates of some agencies and ministries, also monitored compliance to the strike.
Addressing journalists at Teacher’s House Awka,shortly after the exercise on Tuesday, the NLC State Chairman, Comrade Nwafor, said they were joining their counterparts across the country to compel the Federal Government to address the plight of workers and the citizenry at large.
He said: “As workers, we are also badly affected by the economic crisis visited on Nigerians as a result of the hike in the pump price of petrol, all in the name of subsidy removal.
“We had earlier written to the federal government to adjust our wages automatically inline with the existing economic realities, but that has fallen on deaf hears.
“It is over three months now that fuel subsidy had been removed and fuel has equally been increased twice by over 300%, with a price shift from ₦187 to over ₦620, but salaries have remained the same.
“Workers and Nigerians at large, within this period have gone through excruciatingly tough times. It has been stories of mass suffering and life has been made almost meaningless to the common citizens.
“Everything has been nauseating, and hunger is now a way of life among Nigerians.
“You journalists can see for yourself that the exercise recorded 80% success in the State.
“There was no recorded fracas between us and the workers during the enforcement exercise. The exercise was peaceful and it will continue tomorrow by the grace of God.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led-Federal Government knows our demands, so he should without further delay, do the needful.”
Comrade Nwafor further called on all industrial unions organising workers in Anambra State to comply with the directives of the NLC for the good of all.
Howbeit, this reporter gathered that the Anambra State Chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was not part of the solidarity movement.