By Haruna Usman, Birnin Kebbi
Following directive from national headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, the Kebbi state chapter of the union, on Tuesday, held a peaceful protest in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.
The procession began at Haliru Abdu stadium led by officials of the union and other labour affiliates. The protesters holding placard with different inscription marched to the office of the deputy governor, Kebbi state, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Tafida.
Addressing the gathering at the deputy governor’s office, the state’s NLC chairman, represented by his vice, Comrade Aliyu Abubakar Udu, shortly before presenting their protest letter to the deputy governor, listed demands of the union which include immediate release of grains to Nigerians as pledged by President Bola Tinubu, implementation of N30,000 minimum wage, additional grains to the workers by the state government, minimum wage for local government workers and primary school teachers as well as implementation of workers promotions.
The unionist added that, the situation has gone out of hand as Nigerians can no longer feed well.
“Therefore, government must act fast to avoid breakdown of law and order. A hungry man is an angry man. We are also calling on the state government to immediately release the withheld six months salaries of some local government and LGEAs staff. We will no longer tolerate victimisation of workers in the state and elsewhere”.
Responding, Tafida pledged to quickly look into the demands of labour saying the state governor is one of them before he became the governor therefore the expectations are high and all the demands would be met.
Meanwhile, Trade Union Congress, TUC, was absent as none of their officials including the state chairman, Alhaji Atiku Alkali were seen during the labour protest in the state.
