- By Femi Alabi
Secretariat flyover bridge in Jos the capital of Plateau state was on Tuesday besieged by hundreds of protesters who had come to participate in the planned protest against the prevailing economic hardship on Nigerians.
The protestants were unruffled by the heavy presence of the officers of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies, they went on with their protest peacefully and orderly.
To drive home their grievance against government, Nigerian Labour Congress NLC and people who had joined the protest lamented the economic hardship and insecurity being faced by Nigerians in the state and other parts of the country.
The state Chairman of the NLC, Eugene Mangji, who led the protests said, “We are not happy, Nigerians are not happy over the situation in the country that has brought untold hardship and suffering of the citizens which started immediately after the removal of the oil subsidy.
” It started as a joke and suddenly, the price of petrol which was initially sold at N197 jumped to N530 and then to N670. Today, petrol is sold at more than N700.
“Imagine that we are not up to one year in the life of this present administration and Nigerians are experiencing this kind of thing.
“The exchange rate has also gone to almost N2,000 per dollar and since everything is dependent on the exchange rate, prices of goods and services have also gone up beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians. Even the students in higher institutions are not finding it easy at all.
“Nigerians are crying over the situation and we are not left out as Labour and we are calling on the Federal Government to arrest the ugly situation quickly, including the security challenge before they get out of control.”
The protestants chanting solidarity songs called on President Tinubu to act quickly to save Nigerian who are dieing by the day through hunger, also demanded an end to the security challenge in the country.