The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged President Bola Tinubu not to wave the planned nationwide protest scheduled to commence on August 1, 2024, aside, but to address the grievances of Nigerians through leaders of the planned demonstration.

The NLC said Nigerians are angry with Tinubu over hardship, adding that the suffering in the country was worsening by the day.

The NLC said this in a statement issued by its president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, on Monday, July 22, 2024.

Ajaero stated: “As the date for the widely reported national protest looms, the Nigeria Labour Congress urges President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to invite the leadership of the protest movement for discussions on their grievances.

“The truth is that millions of Nigerians are angry about the state of the national economy. A situation where most Nigerian families are forced to eat one miserable meal a day and eating from the dustbin is now seen as a luxury beckons for serious intervention by government.

“Corroborating a recent country living standards index assessment by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) which established that about 133 million Nigerians live below extreme poverty lines, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) posits that in the first three quarters of 2024, about 32 million Nigerians have been exposed to acute hunger.

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“When this statistics is added to the millions that are being recruited into the armies of the unemployed and under-employed Nigerians, one can easily situate the hardship, pain, frustrations and despair that many Nigerians are going through right now.”

The NLC boss further enjoined the president and other government officials to listen to the cry of the people rather than deploy dictatorial tendencies to prevent Nigerians from expressing their fundamental rights of expression.

He added: “The truth is that Nigerians have been hard pushed and super pressed right against the walls of deep deprivation and acute want.

“It is, therefore, condescending and dismissive to describe the daily brutish ordeal that Nigerians are going through as a sponsored political dissent.

“Even if it is so, it is still within the confines of citizens’ rights to protest on political grounds. Just that the current unease in the country does not need political motivation to spark and splurge.

“All that the hurting citizens demand from their government is a listening ear and an empathetic heart. Maybe, that is what the organisers of the protest are looking for given their continued notices on different social media platforms.”

“Nigerians are angry. The times require government to ‘jaw jaw’ and not ‘war war’ with Nigerians. The truth is that you cannot smack a child and at the same time ask the child not to cry. A stitch in time might still save nine!”

The Star