– Civil society groups in Edo state made up of Edo Civil Society Organisations (ECSO), Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN), staged a protest against the increase in the fuel price
– While members of CSN were briefing journalists at the state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, ECSO staged a peaceful march to the secretariat where they blamed organised labour for the current crisis
– Omobude Agho, the leader of the group, stressed that civil society groups would support the organised labour only if the fuel price was returned to N86.50 per litre
The recent fuel subsidy removal and increase in the pump price of petrol has been generating more negative reactions.
Leadership reports that civil society groups in Edo state made up of Edo Civil Society Organisations (ECSO), Coalition to Save Nigeria (CSN), which comprise several other groups, staged a protest in Benin City against the increase in the fuel price on Monday, May 16.
However, there seem to be a crack in the civil society movement: while members of CSN were briefing journalists at the Edo state secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, ECSO staged a peaceful march to the secretariat where they blamed organised labour for the current crisis.
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Omobude Agho, the leader of the group, stressed that civil society groups would support the organised labour only if the fuel price was returned to N86.50 per litre.
“We shall sustain the struggle for N86.50 per litre of petrol as against the N145, until what Nigerians want is achieved. The NLC must be transparent and take decision in the interest of Nigerians else the people of Nigeria will mobilize against the organized labour, if they compromise with the federal government like in the case of 2012,” he said.
According to a statement signed by Philip Ugbodaga, the leader of the CSN, the federal government has made a wrong decision and increased sufferings of Nigerians who are living in penury.
“We love PMB, but reject his anti-people and pro-IMF policies. This government has capitulated to IMF conditionalities and surreptitiously devalued the Nigerian naira through the back door as the black market has become the government preferred official transaction channel while the CBN is now the alternative or parallel market.
“While the government and its ardent apologists call on us to make sacrifices for a better tomorrow, there is hardly any attempt to democratize the sacrifice that Nigeria so urgently need. While the poor still live in penury, our leaders at every level of government continue their ostentatious living,” the statement read.
Meanwhile, youths in Bauchi state are presently staging a peaceful protest in support of the removal of fuel subsidy by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The youths who came out in their numbers were carrying posters, fliers and banners of Buhari in support of subsidy removal.
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