Some Nigerians, including workers, have expressed disappointment with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for ending its protest in Abuja abruptly on Wednesday.
PREMIUM TIMES had reported that NLC embarked on a nationwide protest to call on the government to swiftly address the worsening insecurity in the country.
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However, the protest, which started at about 11:00 a.m., was about four hours behind schedule and ended less than one hour later.
Union members merely marched from their headquarters to a junction, leading to the Federal Ministry of Finance (MOF) building and turned back to the headquarters.
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Sparking reactions from both members present at the protest ground and Nigerians on the streets of Abuja.
How the protests started
On Sunday, the NLC disclosed that it would embark on a planned nationwide protest on 17 December, aiming to draw attention to Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and compel urgent action from stakeholders.
Consequently, President Bola Tinubu met with the leadership of the congress, led by its President, Joe Ajaero, on Tuesday night, with the hope of shelving the demonstration.
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However, on the day of the protest, after arriving at the Labour House at 8:49 a.m., Mr Ajaero addressed journalists, during which he said the protest would proceed as planned.
At about 9 a.m., while members of the NLC, its affiliates, and journalists were waiting, some of the union leaders further announced that the Labour presidents and other executives had started a meeting, and members were admonished to wait.
After over two hours of waiting, the commencement of the protest was announced. At 11:15 a.m., members marched out of the Headquarters, heading to the streets of the Nigerian capital.
Protesters chanted solidarity songs, waved the union’s flag and held placards with different inscriptions, such as “Federal government no more excuses and rhetoric!” “End insecurity now.” Federal government, security and welfare are the primary purposes of government- Act now!”
However, after about 15 minutes, the protesters arrived at a junction leading to the Ministry of Finance. They turned back from there and headed straight to the Labour House from where they had taken off.
Upon returning, the Deputy General Secretary of the NLC, Ismaila Bello and the Head of International Affairs, Uche Ekwe, addressed members and journalists.
Mr Belllo said the protest was staged to ensure that the government put a stop to the insecurity issue in the country without being partial.
He said, “What we are saying is that the damage is too enormous, it has to stop. We want people to return to normalcy and not live in IDPs. They should live in their communities, children should return to schools, teachers should be protected, that is all we are saying, and our constitution guarantees that. All the government needs to do is bring all the powers and machinery of governance to ensure that all the ungoverned places in our country are recovered immediately, to ensure that everybody who is connected with this underground economy is fished out and punished, shamed, and sent to prison.
“A few elements cannot thrive on the agony and pain of the majority of our people. If you are a sponsor of banditry or kidnapping, you should face a death sentence. You are involved in banditry, kidnapping; you should pay the ultimate price. That is why Labour is out today.”
Although he did not give reasons why the protest ended shortly, the deputy general secretary said that the leaders are in an ongoing meeting with the state governors and local government authorities concerning the issue.
“Comrades, our leaders, as we are doing our protest here, are also having dialogue there, to demand from the state governors, and local governments, to demand from the federal government the need to step up the security of the country, so that ordinary citizens enjoy maximum protection,” Mr Bello said.
On his part, Mr Ekwe said, “We want to strengthen their hands to say, all those funding insecurity, gets them arrested and dealt with them, if they are so powerful and they are much of a cabal, they will now be facing us, the Nigerian people. And I believe that this coming out has drawn attention to the world. So we want to appreciate you, knowing that some of you came as early as possible to get here this morning.”
Members expressed disappointment
However, some workers were not happy with the conduct of the protest.
A member of the Union, Abubakar Abdulahi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the protest was partial.
“As you can see, here we are in Abuja. And other states have started. The protest here in Abuja was partial. We are not happy at all with the way it ended,” he said.
“They told them there will be protests today. The government did not bother to call the attention of the NLC until yesterday, when they started calling the attention of the NRC. A series of meetings going on right now. As I’m talking to you, they are there in the meeting between the NLC and the (Nigerian) Governors’ Forum.”
“We are supposed to show the whole world that this is the situation Nigeria is in. But you know, the Nigerian government can do and undo. They can do and undo. At the dying minute, they decide to turn the tables upside down.”
A teacher, Orawusi Abosede, who also joined the demonstration today, said her delight was suppressed after the protest ended abruptly. She said she came out because of the situation which had traumatised her, but was disappointed that her effort felt wasted.
“When the call for this protest was made known to us as officers of this union, I felt delighted because it was a way I could express my anger about the insecurity in school concerning the children. It is not just a physical torture but also a psychological one, especially when you hear that teachers, those in the inner part of Abuja, are being kidnapped and these children. It gives one a sleepless night.,” he teacher said
“I felt so bad because I expected it to go a long way, even though we should go to the National Assembly, because our voices need to be heard,” she said.
Another member, who did not give his name for fear of intimidation, said people were disappointed because they expected to move beyond the premises, but didn’t.
“People are disappointed because they were expecting that we would go beyond this premises, we were supposed to visit some places to deliver letters or protest but some of our members are still in the meeting, and we cannot go on on our own” but the protest has already taken place, it is every where even though we did not go about it the way we expected”
Nigerians react
A commercial driver who spoke with us in the Central District area of Abuja, Mr Emeka Jude, said he didn’t see the demonstration as a protest, but rather as a celebration. He stressed that if the union really had the concern of Nigerians at heart, they would have involved Nigerians and made the protest more visible.
“I know how protests are in Nigeria, but this one is one of the worst. I don’t know, maybe this is a conference meeting they are doing inside the office. It may not be a protest because a protest shouldn’t be like this.
“They should stop deceiving us. This is not a protest. It is a celebration. Because when you are talking about protests, Nigeria is supposed to know that there is a protest. If it’s because of exactly what we are also passing through in terms of hardship and other things, they are also supposed to carry us along.”
“Let’s all be sincere so that the government……… But if they are coming today to come and tell us that they want to protest against what we are going through in this country, and they say they have a meeting with the president, then what is the outcome of the meeting? In short, I’m just saying this is part of wasting our money.” he said.
One Mr Hope, an engineer in Abuja, also said the protest did help Nigerians in any way.
“That protest does not help Nigerians in any way. You know, maybe when the President and the labour man met, he was told they could continue, but it should not go further. Because it is something that could have mounted and roamed, and shaken the whole of Abuja, and from there people would know it was a protest, before you know the government would be moved to react,” he stated.
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