The Trade Union Congress, TUC, says it would not join the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in its plan to protest the mounting hardship and insecurity on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Its President, Festus Osifo said this at a news briefing.

The NLC said it would go ahead with its protest despite the Department of State Services and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice calling the labour leaders to shelve the planned protest.

Osifo said the TUC would continue to engage the federal government and proffer solutions to some of the challenges facing the country.

Osifo outlined a 15-point agenda that the government should consider in other to improve the economic situation of the country.

The Trade Union Congress warned that the planned protest may lead to anarchy.

This is as the union stated that the country was too volatile and tense because of the prevailing hunger in the land.

Pockets of protests had broken out in Kano, Niger, Oyo and Osun, among other states, with protesters urging the government to take decisive steps to bring the hardship to an end.

Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed to a near 28-year high of 29.9 per cent in January, up from 28.9 per cent in December and above market forecasts of 29.5 per cent.

Food prices are at an all-time high, with a bag of long-grain rice hitting N77,000.

Several videos online have shown netizens lamenting the increase in the prices of consumer goods like toothpaste, butter, and tin tomatoes, among others, and asking the President, Bola Tinubu to intervene.

Many have also expressed their willingness to join the NLC protest to press home their demands for a change in the economic trajectory of the country.

However, the TUC backed out, saying that it was not aware of the planned rally. This caused a crack in the wall of the Organised Labour.

Although the NLC has insisted that the two-day rally must be held, the TUC has stated that it will not be part of the demonstration.

Osifo, while commenting on the planned rally, stated that it was ill-timed and urged the NLC not to plunge the country into anarchy.
Speaking on why the TUC backed out of the proposed protest, the labour leader accused the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, of running a one-man show by failing to carry members of the TUC along in his decision to declare a two-day strike.

He said the NLC had slighted the TUC in making unilateral decisions four times, adding that it was now a deliberate act.

He said, “When one claims that a mistake is done and it is one that a mistake can be accepted as a mistake, but, when it is up to four times, it is now a deliberate action.

“The first thing is that when you issue an ultimatum to the government, the NEC is supposed to meet to review it. When they do, they will then make a decision.

“In this case, the ultimatum given to the Federal Government was still on and the NLC president decided to announce that they would be going on protest as though he had not been in industrial relations practice or law. It baffles us. We cannot take that.

“What is the essence of unionism if you don’t come together for a particular cause? So, adopting a situation where two centres have been on the ground and one feels it has superior knowledge is not a good one at all.

“I feel that he should be sensitive to know that the struggle is not a one-party affair and we must save the country. We have to be a united force. And we have also said that a people united cannot be defeated. The President must leave up to his responsibility.