By Kamil Opeyemi
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has directed its members across the country to protest at all the offices of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) nationwide starting next week over the current cash crunch in the country.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who briefed journalists in Abuja, said the mobilisation for the exercise will commence on Friday while the total shutdown of economic activities across the nation will begin next Wednesday.
NLC had on March 13 issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government, calling for immediate action to cushion the effect of cash crunch and fuel scarcity crisis, or face industrial action by Nigerian workers.
Ajaero said the industrial action became the last resolve of the Congress, having urged the Federal Government through different channels to take into consideration the severe hardship workers and Nigerian citizens are experiencing because of the persistent cash scarcity.
“Last week, we gave an ultimatum for the review of the cash crunch bedeviling the country, but we have discovered to our dismay that as at this moment not much effort has been made to ameliorate the situation, the government is still foot dragging on these issues we raised.
“Based on this, we met again this morning to review our position and resolved that by Wednesday next week, all CBN branches will be picketed.
“Workers are directed to stay at home too because people cannot eat, workers can no longer go to the office, we have been pushed to the wall, we have decided to take our destiny in our hands, we have mobilised our workers for this exercise,”Ajaero stated.