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| Protesters |
By Williams Ago, Gombe
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State, today, February 27, 2024 addressed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), emphasizing that even high-ranking government officials are not immune to the economic difficulties brought about by the removal of fuel subsidies in the country.
The governor who was represented by his deputy, Dr. Manasseh Daniel Jatau, when NLC officials led workers and other Nigerians on a peaceful protest, said the officials are not oblivious of the current hardship.
Receiving the letter from the labour leaders at the Pantami Township Stadium, Gombe, Dr. Manasseh promised that their letter would be submitted to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as requested.
According to him, "We that are here are not exempted from what you are suffering from. As a good leader, whatever your subordinates are facing is what you are facing. I can tell you that we are together in all your plight.
"The letter is addressed to our own father, I can assure you as a good messenger and as a post office. However, I want to thank everyone that came here for the peaceful conduct," the deputy governor said.
Earlier, the Gombe State chapter chairman of the NLC, Comrade Yusuf Bello, who led the protest from the Labour House to the Pantami Township Stadium, decried the rising food insecurity occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy.
He called on the federal government to suspend any of its ongoing projects so as to mitigate the suffering of workers, adding, "following perceived paucity of resources the available funds should be redirected to cushioning the challenges of workers."
The NLC chairman said, "The removal of fuel subsidy has caused the hard condition we found ourselves. People are just moving without knowing where to go to because of hunger, which is biting.
"We are here to present the displeasure of the working people and generality of people of Nigeria. If you could recall vividly, we had insisted that before subsidy is removed, certain measures should be taken to cushion the effect.
"There is no plan to cushion the effect as it stands now, common man can't have two square meal per day, even those trying to cope with the situation, it's hard for them to eat twice.
"We're presenting our grievances to government because we create the wealth and since we create the wealth, we deserve the right to eat from it, even if it requires government to suspend any project to channel income to food security.
"It's highly needed, because wherever, you eat and become satisfied, definitely, there will be security. But with hunger, insecurity will continue to increase", Comrade Yusuf stressed.
The Labour leader also commended his members and other Nigerians for their peaceful conduct during the first day of the protest and encouraged residents to support labour's move to soften the economic situation of citizens.
He said, "Today, we have done it peacefully, tomorrow we are going to do it peacefully by the grace of God. I want to call on government to look into the plight of the general public, not only civil servants. The condition is biting harder. The country is in quagmire and we don't know where we are heading to," he added.
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