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By Madu Obi
The Anambra State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Humphrey Emeka has said that the state wing of NLC joined the two-day warning strike because of the hardship the workers were facing.
Speaking after enforcing the strike in some government offices, Comrade Nwafor, said the warning strike was to compel the federal government to address the plight of workers and the citizenry at large.
He said: “As workers, we are badly affected by the economic crisis visited on Nigerians as a result of the hike in the pump price of petrol, all in the name of subsidy removal.
“We had earlier written to the federal government to adjust our wages automatically in line with the existing economic realities, but that has fallen on deaf hears.
“It is over three months now that fuel subsidy had been removed and fuel has equally been increased twice by over 300% , with a price shift from ₦187 to over ₦620 but salaries have remained the same.
"Workers and Nigerians at large within this period have gone through excruciatingly tough times. It has been stories of mass suffering and life has been made almost meaningless to the common citizens.
“Everything has been nauseating and hunger is now a way of life among Nigerians. There was no recorded fracas between us and the workers during the enforcement exercise. The exercise was peaceful and it will continue tomorrow by the grace of God."
"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led-federal government knows our demands, so he should, without further delay, do the needful."
He expressed delight that the exercise recorded about 80 percent success in the state.Meanwhile, commercial banks and the courts in Anambra State were shut as the NLC began the two - day warning strike.
At the state secretariat, few workers were on their desks, but had to close their doors to avoid the harassment of officials of the NLC, who earlier in the day used cain to drive away civil servants who came to work.
Although the enforcers closed the gates of the secretariat earlier in the day, it was later opened and a few workers who came, had access to their offices.
In Awka and Onitsha, commercial vehicles were plying, just as filling stations were doing their business unmolested. At the state House of Assembly, various committees were sitting and workers there were on their duty posts.
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