Public sector workers in Akwa Ibom on Tuesday, joined the ongoing #EndHungerAndPovertyNow nationwide protest organised by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) over the escalating cost of living across the country.
The NLC state Chairman Sunny James led the procession from Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo, to the State House of Assembly, and finally to the Government House.
James emphasised the urgency of addressing the rising cost of living, noting that the populace’s patience was wearing thin. He called for immediate action and urged Mr. Udeme Otong, the Speaker of the House, to champion the enactment of people-centric policies aimed at alleviating hardship.
His words:
“We are here to present our position to members of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly that they need to make laws in the direction of our problem, laws that will be beneficial to us. We don’t need laws that don’t make meaning to us.
“If the leaders are not willing to change the situation, we will force them to change the situation, how can we be buying a bag of rice at N95,000 and a cup of garri N500?
“In Akwa Ibom State, this protest has to be domesticated, we need our gratuity, we need our promotion arrears, we need our 2023 promotion to be released immediately, we need the CNG busses to work, we need our refineries to work, we need increase in our wages, we need the prices of our staple food to come down, we need to see rice from Ini, we need to see garri and tomatoes been sold at our secretariat here.
“We are presenting these proposals to the governor and we give him a timeline, if he does not listen to us, we shall gather again for a protest.”
NLC Commenced a nationwide protest against the economic hardship in Nigeria on Tuesday, February 27.