The Nigeria Labour Congress NLC has said it would be embarking on a nationwide protest over the increment in fuel and electricity prices on September 28.
The organised labour recently gave the Federal Government two weeks deadline to reverse the hike on both commodities or witness a nationwide protest from September 28.
While speaking at a recent press briefing in Abuja, NLC President, Ayuba Wabba said the protest action was imminent because the Federal Government has refused to reverse the hike in electricity and fuel prices.
According to him, the privatization of the electricity sub-sector which happened seven years ago has not yielded any positive report.
He said: “Whereas the entire privatisation process, the entire sector was sold at about N400 billion. We are also surprised that government, within the last four years, injected N1.5 trillion over and above the amount that was used to sell these very important assets.
“And therefore NEC came to the conclusion that the entire privatisation process has failed and the electricity hike is actually a process of continued exploitation of Nigerians.”
While talking about the increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, Wabba said the development will only make life more difficult for the average Nigerian.
He said: “On the issue of the refineries and also the increase in the pump price of PMS, these have further eroded the gains of N30,000 minimum wage.
“In the light of all of these, NEC decided to endorse the two-week ultimatum given to the federal government to try to reverse those obnoxious decisions. And also pronounce that the action proposed by the Central Working Committee is hereby endorsed by the NEC that 28 of September will be a date that those actions will be challenged by Nigerian workers, our civil society allies and also other labour centres.”
