Joe Ajaero, the Nigeria Labour Congress President has led Nigerian workers to the National Assembly complex.
On arrival on Tuesday, Ajaero handed over their list of demands to the lawmakers who, unlike previous Assemblies, flung their gates open to receive and hear them out.
Among the demands tendered to the lawmakers are:
1. A full implementation of the welfare provisions.
2. Employment generation
3. Immediate subsidy to farmers to boost agricultural production
4. Fixing of the four refineries among others.
Ajaero handed over the letter to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment, and Productivity, Senator Diket Plang on Tuesday.
In his remarks at the National Assembly, the NLC President said Nigerians embarked on the peaceful protests because there was hunger in the land, adding that “Nigeria is becoming like Zimbabwe.”
Ajaero noted that the minimum wage negotiation has started but the amount was yet to be decided.
He said that the protest would serve as a signal to the FG to immediately tackle the challenges bedeviling the country.
Plang, after receiving the letter assured the protesters that the demands of the NLC would be looked at and discussed immediately.
The NLC and other related unions commenced national planned protests on Tuesday over the high cost of living, inflation, insecurity, and hardship in the country.
The unions involved are the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, FCT Council, National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Nigeria Union of Teachers, and Construction Workers’ Union, among others.
The protesters were seen carrying placards such as #End Poverty and Hunger. Support Local Industries#; Fix Local Refineries End Subsidy#; #End Naira Devaluation; Tax the Rich Subsidise the poor#.
The placards bore inscriptions that the workers hope would draw the attention of the lawmakers and the presidency to the current economic hardship across the country.