Reactions trail NLC planned protest

Nigerians on social media have reacted to the planned nationwide protest of the Nigeria Labour Congress scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

Netizens who took to social media platforms expressed divergent views on the protest.

The NLC shared on Sunday a statement on its Twitter page calling on Nigerians to join the protest that it said is aimed at protesting the hardship occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal.

A Twitter User, LJimmypop, said, “Na lie, we will sit and wait. You guys will go and have indoor discussions now and come out to yan dust.. we no dey protest. When he removed this subsidy, instead of taking action, your leaders went for closed-door discussions and came out stammering. You have failed Nigerians.

Another Netizen, UB_Forty, said, “What will happen is tomorrow they will call your leaders to a meeting, they will come out smiling and call off the strike and say negotiations are ongoing.”

Twitter user Adekunle1957 also said, “I understand your struggle. The reason there’s no outrage this time around concerning the fuel subsidy is the hypocrisy of my Yoruba people. Unlike the massive support that the NLC got in 2011-2012 to protest against the then-Jonathan government. Let’s see how it goes.”

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Rilwan_ola01 wrote, “Sadly, u people will back down on the eve of the protest or after two days without achieving anything… Until you display that you can resist any financial influences and focus on the main objective, which is to make Nigeria great, until then, Nigerians can take you people seriously.”

However, a couple of netizens have also since shown support for the planned NLC protest.

Twitter user KingsAmadi3 supporting the strike said, “We understood that the past. #NLCHeadquarters administration was robbing bodies with the Nigerian government, and that’s why Nigerians lost hope at #NLCHeadquarters but at this time, we strongly believe that NLC will restore hope to Nigerians.”

Anikoko5050 opined that: “The government must fix our refineries as a matter of urgency. Without the refineries being in top working conditions, no amount of palliatives would be enough. I’m glad you’ve now found your voice, but don’t buckle at the last minute.”

National Daily reported on Sunday that the NLC had given the Federal government a seven-day ultimatum with threats of a nationwide strike scheduled to commence on Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

The Labour movement in a statement signed by its National President, Joe Ajaero, accused the Tinubu-led Federal Government of failing to meet up with the demands it presented to it following the removal of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, which caused an astronomical rise in the pump price of the commodity.