Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Some workers in Abia State, Tuesday, joined their counterparts in the nationwide protest against the biting economic hardship.
The workers who assembled under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, chanted anti-government songs as they marched through some streets.
A woman said to be a widow slumped during the protest when the protesters took the protest to the entrance gate of the Government House Umuahia.
She was however, revived by other protesters.
In his speech at the gate of the Government House, Abia NLC Chairman, Comrade Okoro Ogbonnaya, said that workers had been put under sever hardship following the biting economic situation.
He said that workers could no longer endure the biting hardship.
Comrade Ogbonnaya called on Government to improve the welfare of workers and empathize with the suffering masses.
He appealed to Government to quickly come to the rescue of the workers who are getting frustrated as a result of the failing economy.
The NLC boss alleged that Abia State Government was yet to “either implement the N35,000 palliative wage or set up implementation committee involving labour and government”.
He also claimed that some Abia workers were yet to be captured in the workers’ biometric verification exercise, regretting that salaries of the affected workers are withheld.
Ogbonnaya, therefore, appealed to Governor Alex Otti, to fulfill his promise to wipe the accumulated salary and pension arrears of Abia workers and pensioners.
Addressing the protesters, National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Osodeke, decried the plights of Nigerians under the current administration.
Osodeke regretted that while Nigerians are suffering some people are enjoying from the pains of the people
He called for quick intervention to save the masses for further hardship.
In his response, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Labour Matters, Mr Godson Chinedu, said Gov. Otti was deeply pained by the plights of the masses following the removal of fuel subsidy.
He promised to convey their grievances to the Governor for necessary actions.
The protest was generally peaceful.
