The two main Labour Unions in Nigeria said Tuesday they will proceed on an indefinite strike beginning next week October 3, to protest against rising cost-of-living crisis after the federal government removed petrol subsidy seen as too expensive for sustenance.
President Bola Tinubu during his inauguration in May scrapped subsidy that had kept fuel prices low but was draining government’s finances.
The removal of the subsidy has caused a sharp rise in the cost of food, transport and power with most businesses and households relying on petrol generators for electricity. This is aside the falling value of the Naira to the United States dollar.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) after a meeting of their National Executive Committee (NEC) agreed to shut the economy after the failure of government to meet their demands.
“It’s going to be a total shutdown … until government meets the demand of Nigerian workers, and in fact Nigerian masses,” the union leaders said in a joint statement.
