THE Nigeria Labour Congress will continue with its planned nationwide protest on Thursday despite the announcement by the Federal Government that it would no longer remove the fuel subsidy for now.
Ahead of the mass rally, the NLC has written to the 36 state governors to demand the withdrawal of the removal of the fuel subsidy scheduled for June.
The NLC argued that the perennial hike in the pump price of petrol and other refined petroleum products was a transfer of government failure and inability to effectively govern the country.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva; at the National Assembly on Monday said the Federal Government had suspended the plan to remove fuel subsidy.
Despite the new development, the Assistant General Secretary, NLC, Asuzu Echezona, confirmed that the rally would go on as planned. “We are continuing with preparation for the protests,” he clarified on Thursday night.
Also, the Ogun State Chairman of the NLC, Emmanuel Bankole, in an interview with The PUNCH, said the union was going ahead with the protest.
He stated, “The congress observed a game plan and deceit in the new development hence, there is no going back in the planned protest scheduled in the state against the plan by the Federal Government.
“However, something tells me that this has more to do with what is in the offing – an election is coming up and the strategists would probably have sat down and think about it, and they have told themselves and told those they advise that it would be political hara-kiri, it would be suicidal at this point take out subsidy, going into an election which is just around the corner.
“So, you asked me for my initial thoughts: this is what I think the issue is because these kinds of hard decisions; these kinds of really tough decisions, I don’t think they are the kind of decisions that you want to take going into an election. Those are my thoughts; I may be wrong.”
When asked if he thought it was largely a political decision, the NBA President said, “Absolutely.
Copyright PUNCH