Nigerian Workers, NLC Gives Buhari Government Seven-Day Ultimatum To End Naira, Fuel Scarcity

A seven-day deadline has been issued to the Nigerian government by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to end the Naira and fuel scarcity ravaging the country.

This ultimatum comes barely 24 hours the Supreme Court’s interim injunction prohibiting the Nigerian government from suspending the acceptance of old naira notes on February 10.

The newly elected NLC President, Comrade Joseph Ajaero, stated this at the 13th Delegates Conference in Abuja, noting that the congress was already mobilising its members across the country for a mass action.

Ajaero insisted that the court ruling suspending the naira swap did not guarantee its availability.

Ajaero said: “The usurpation and use of state powers to impoverish the citizenry abuses the ideals of democracy and destroys the nation. Governance ought to provide comfort for the citizenry so, it pains us to witness the increasing frustrations Nigerians have had to go through in the last few months just to fuel their cars and generators, the new phenomenon of black market Naira-buying our own monies at a discount from illegal brokers.

“Governance in Nigeria seems to have broken all known records for bad governance. We will definitely not keep quiet in the face of this deliberate defilement of citizenship by the ruling elite as we may mobilise variously across the nation to nudge the government to act more responsibly towards the citizenry and seek ways of alleviating the suffering that currently walks our streets with arrogance.”

On the forthcoming election, Ajaero said it is crucial that the politicians learn from history to avoid its pitfalls.

He said they must play according to the rules avoiding actions that may truncate our democratic process and imperil our nation.

“The electoral umpire must ensure a transparent and equitable conduct of the elections at all levels while we urge all Nigerians to seize the opportunity which this presents to vote the right people into positions of power. Those that are destroying our nation and stealing our collective patrimony must not be allowed any longer in our corridors of power.

“As Nigerians, we must not allow them divide us along religious and regional lines. Our demands on the Nigerian State are basically the same.

“We have unwaveringly asked for a secure nation where we can move freely and carry out our daily activities without violently losing our lives and properties. We have demanded equity and fairness in the sharing of our nation’s resources, more functional and accessible education system for our children, Increasing access to high quality medical care, high quality road infrastructure, increasing access to nutrition and generally elevating the factors that increase human wellbeing. We should therefore, vote the candidates who have the competence and character to deliver on these demands come February and March,” he said.

The Supreme Court issued an interim injunction restraining the Federal Government from suspending the acceptance of the old Naira notes.