By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
As Nigeria marks it’s 66th independence anniversary, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Federal government immediately reduce fuel price with a view reduce the sufferings of Nigerians.<\/p>\n
The congress in a statement to mark the anniversary and signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, said the journey to the dream of Nigeria envisioned by the founding fathers depends on the decision and action taking by Nigerians, insisting that only purposeful governance can take the country to the destination.<\/p>\n
It further demanded for immediate implementation of wage award to enable workers and Nigerians cope with the present situation in the country. <\/p>\n
The congress said sixty-six years ago, the founding fathers and mothers wrestled the nation from the grip of colonial rule, convinced that political independence would translate into economic freedom and dignity for the Nigerian people.<\/p>\n
It saluted every worker, artisan, youth, woman, retiree, informal economy operator, and every Nigerian who wakes up each morning to struggle for survival in a country, it said has increasingly turned its back on its own people. <\/p>\n
The NLC said: “We honour the sacrifices of those who paved the path to liberation with their sweat and blood. However, we refuse to drown in empty patriotic rituals while the masses drown in poverty.<\/p>\n
“Sixty-six years after independence, Nigeria has become a nation whose governance decisions have been captured by neoliberalism; an ideology and a policy framework that does not serve workers, does not serve the masses, does not serve the nation, but is designed to serve Western capital.<\/p>\n
” From policy formulation to resource allocation, from taxation to subsidy removal, from wage suppression to price escalation, the beneficiaries of this arrangement are a tiny elite (who keeps applauding) and international capital, while the costs are borne by the very people whose labour built this country.<\/p>\n
“Yet oppression has never been a permanent destiny. The power of Nigerian workers and the people ended colonial rule and forced one government after another to retreat from anti-people policies. Hope exists, but it will not fall from the sky. Hope depends on the decisions we make and the actions we take as trade unions, workers, and as a people.<\/p>\n
“We stand at the crossroads of a full-scale survival crisis. The real value of wages has been devoured by structural inflation. Petrol now sells at \u20a61,430 per litre or higher in major cities and far more in remote areas. The surge in transportation costs drives up the prices of food, school fees, rent, and nearly every necessity of life, while nominal wages remain stagnant.<\/p>\n
“The root of this crisis is very clear. The May 2023 petrol price hike was a systematic assault on the working class. Government claimed subsidy removal would free up resources for infrastructure and social services. Three years later, petrol prices have multiplied several times over, yet the promised infrastructure and social services remain mirages. Where exactly did the subsidy savings go? Nigerians deserve an answer, and they deserve it now”.<\/p>\n
Continuing, the congress said: “More infuriating is that Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, depends on imported refined petroleum, while domestic refining capacity has been systematically neglected, except the effort of a few private refineries. When international oil prices fluctuate, the Nigerian working class bears the consequences.<\/p>\n
“This is not an economic law. It is a policy choice that favours importers and Western refining capital while sacrificing our own people by ensuring the four publicly owned domestic refineries remain comatose”.<\/p>\n
The NLC therefore put forward its demands to include: “First, we demand that government seek ways to immediately reduce the price of petrol as transportation costs are the central transmission mechanism of inflation in Nigeria. Without cutting this chain, any effort to ease the suffering of the people is futile.<\/p>\n
“Second, we demand the immediate implementation of a nationwide wage award for all workers. A wage award is not charity. It is an emergency intervention against the collapse of real income. We demand that this relief reach all workers in federal, state, and local governments.<\/p>\n
“Third, we demand that the government deliver the tax relief agreed upon in the October 2023 dialogue with labour. The tax incentives promised in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between government and labour have not been implemented. <\/p>\n
“Fourth, we demand that government expedite action on the new national minimum wage negotiation. The current \u20a670,000 minimum wage was already destroyed by inflation before it was implemented. We demand the immediate establishment of a tripartite committee to ensure that a new wage standard for 2027 is formulated and legislated before the year runs out.<\/p>\n
“Fifth, we demand that the government reduce the cost of governance and practise transparent governance. When workers are asked to tighten their belts, the extravagance and waste of the governing class are unacceptable. Government must lead by example.<\/p>\n
“Beyond these immediate demands, we insist that the government invest massively and genuinely in road and social infrastructure, make our hospitals, sch\u00f2ols and other social services work. Public education must be affordable, high-quality, and accessible. Good roads are a basic precondition for reducing transport costs and improving economic efficiency.<\/p>\n
“The governmentnt must create genuine opportunities so that young people can see hope instead of being preached to about hope so that desperate journeys across the Sahara and the Mediterranean do not remain the only source of hope. <\/p>\n
“We must also remind the government that insecurity has worsened the macroeconomic situation and has become one of the greatest threats to national stability. In the first quarter of 2026, nearly 2,000 Nigerians died from violence. Farmers cannot farm. Teachers and doctors dare not go to work in some places. <\/p>\n
“Poverty, unemployment, desperation, and inequality are the most fertile soil for violence and crime. Without addressing distributive justice, insecurity cannot be cured, and without curing insecurity, no economic recovery is possible”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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