The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has debunked the report that it has pulled out of the planned national protest over hunger and high cost of living in the country, saying that it cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise.
The NLC has also advised the federal government and the sub-national governments to listen to the cries of the hungry Nigerian people and do the needful.
A statement on Wednesday, signed by the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, further reiterated the earlier call by the labour movement that government should dialogue with the organisers of the protest and warned that any resort to the use of brute force would be counterproductive.
The statement entitled “The Nigeria Labour Congress cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise,” partly read:
“A news report of the withdrawal of the Nigeria Labour Congress from the widely discussed national protest has been brought to our attention. The Nigeria Labour Congress debunks such story as patently false.
“The truth is that the Nigeria Labour Congress cannot withdraw from a protest that it did not organise. It is only the organisers of the speculated national protest that can decide to pull out or continue with the protest.
“The Nigeria Labour Congress has internal trade union mechanisms especially leadership decision-making processes that its industrial actions such as protests pass through before such activities are undertaken.
“Yet, the fact that the Nigeria Labour Congress is not the body organising the protest does not mean that Organised Labour is oblivious of the dire living conditions Nigerians have been subjected to by the harsh economic policies of government.