The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is leading today’s mass protest, and a coalition of civil society leaders and groups called The Labour-Civil Society Front has announced its support for the protest. The front’s stated goal is to get the government to pay attention to issues that benefit the poor and the people.
Government actions that dehumanize and disempower the people are a national emergency, according to the alliance that supported the planned nationwide demonstration on hardship for today and tomorrow.
These were the words of the civil society leaders who issued a joint press statement: Prof. Chris Mustapha Nwaokobia Jnr., convener of the Country First Movement, Mallam Hamisu San Turaki, and Comrade (Amb) Nkoyo Toyo, national spokesperson of the Labour – Civil Society Front, LCSF.
To bring the attention of the government to the “unmitigated sufferings and impoverishment of Nigerians foisted by the mindless implementation of dehumanizing economic policies of governments at both national and subnational levels of the country,” they called on their members and allies across Nigeria to join and fully participate in the peaceful national protest.
“Our decision to once align with the organized labour on this mass action does not in anyway have any political, ethnic or religious coloration,” the statement continued. “The hunger, declining health and orchestrated deaths ravaging Nigerian citizens, have not been discriminatory on grounds of political affiliation, ethnic or religious sentiments.”
The leaders of the protest justified their actions by stating that: “The general insecurity of lives and properties of Nigerians that has led to many untimely and avoidable deaths.” They went on to list a number of requests that they wanted addressed.