Business activities were paralysed for some hours on Tuesday as the Nigeria Labour Congress and its affiliates staged a peaceful protest in Osogbo, Osun State, against the current economic hardship ravaging the country.
Recalls that the NLC and the Trade Union Congress had on February 8, issued a 14-day nationwide strike notice to the Federal Government over the failure to implement the agreements reached on October 2 following the removal of fuel subsidy.
The protesters led by the Osun NLC chairman, Christopher Arapasopo, began their march from Freedom Park, Osogbo, and moved through MDS road chanting anti-President Bola Tinubu songs.
Some of the affiliates of NLC that participated in the protest include; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers Union of Nigeria, and Nigeria Union of Journalists, among others.
As the protesters moved towards Olaiya Junction where they eventually converged, vehicular movement was grounded along Osogbo/Gbongan road.
Also, for more than two hours that the protesters converged under Olaiya Bridge, business activities around the area were paralysed.
Police operatives, men of the Department of State Security and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, were seen at the scene of the protest in large numbers while it lasted.
But in other parts of the state capital, business activities went unhindered before and during the protest.
Addressing the protesters, ASUU Coordinator for Akure Zone, Dr. Adeola Egbedokun, lamented the hardship that Nigerians were going through and called on the Federal Government to reverse its policies that have impacted negatively on the people.
Egbedokun said many people felt unconcerned and refused to join the protest because they did not have a deep understanding of the negative effects of federal government policies on them.
He called on the workers to sensitise other members of the public on the need for them to join protests against the rising cost of living.
In his remarks, Osun NLC chairman, Arapasopo, called on the Federal Government to immediately find solutions to the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
He said, “What Tinubu promised during his electioneering campaign was a reprieve for Nigerians but what we are seeing now is the opposite of that.
“He must immediately come up with solutions. People are hungry and they are angry. We don’t want the situation to go out of hand. There is a need for measures that will immediately address the situation.”
Punch