The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has asked the organised labour – the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – to reject the palliatives being proposed by President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government.
Governor Obaseki who made the call on Wednesday threw his full support to the labour unions’ nationwide protests against the Nigerian government over fuel subsidy removal, fuel price hike, school fees hike and other anti-poor policies by the government, while describing the proposed palliative as “fraud.”
The governor while addressing the aggrieved workers in the state on Wednesday, said “In Edo state, we are labour friendly.
We must stop this palliative fraud of the federal government. I want to call on the labour.
“Let them give the local government the money to give to the people because the Federal Government has no business buying grains, giving contracts to buy palliatives for people across the 774 local governments in Nigeria. We must stop this fraud.”
It was gathered that earlier reported that market women, drivers, commercial motorbike and tricycle riders, youths, and members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as aggrieved Nigerians trooped out on Wednesday to protest against “Tinubu’s anti-poor policies and hardship in the land,” following the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
The protesters who expressed displeasure with the hardship and cost of living inflicted on Nigerians by Tinubu’s administration, called on the federal government to as a matter of urgency and importance reverse the subsidy removal and address the lingering hardship and suffering of Nigerians.
The protesters also called on President Tinubu to introduce new policies with a human face and shun policies that will continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.