Hardships: Tinubu Must Not Send Nigerians To Early Graves – HURIWA Warns

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), has said that it has become apparent that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is on a mission to send the Nigerian masses to their early graves with its anti-poor policies including the abrupt and poorly executed removal of fuel subsidy which caused the price of petrol to rise from N184 to as high as N617 per litre.

This was as HURIWA castigated the Tinubu-led Federal Government for describing the planned protest by the organised Labour led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), as illegal and in contempt of court.

A statement by the national Coordinator of HURIWA, comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said emphatically that no court order must be allowed to stop the nationwide protests of the NLC scheduled for August 2, 2023, stressing that the only thing that can stop the planned protest is for the government to grant the demands of labour.

HURIWA therefore warned the NLC not to capitulate to the judicial blackmail of President Tinubu and chicken out of the publicised mass protests against increasing hardships as a result of poorly introduced economic austerity measures by this government, adding that if the NLC backpedals, it would mark the end of the acceptance of the Nigerian Labour Congress by the masses as they would be automatically seen as saboteurs.

The NLC had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Tinubu administration to reverse “all anti-poor” people policies including the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol.

But, the Federal Ministry of Justice, through the Solicitor General of the Federation (SGF), Mrs. B.E. Jedy-Agba, said that the seven-day notice for the mass protest was in clear disregard of a National Industrial Court order of June 5, 2023 restraining the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) from embarking on planned industrial action of any nature, pending hearing and determination of the perpetual Motion on Notice.

In response however, HURIWA noted that the administration of President Tinubu was clearly unfeeling and unsympathetic to the plight of the Nigerian masses which it has subjected to untold hardship right from Day 1 on May 29, 2023.

According to HURIWA; “No doubt, the Tinubu government has despised Nigerians with its anti-people policies including arbitrary increase in the price of petrol, subsidy removal without economic alternatives in place to cushion its effect, increase in fees of students of tertiary institutions, hike in electricity tariffs, amongst others.

“This is despite the fact that minimum wage is still at an unsustainable N30,000 while interest rate has been raised to 18.75%, and the consequent rise in inflation which is 22.79% amid soaring food prices and rising cost of transportation.

“The Federal Government cannot tell the labour union not to embark in industrial action. Can you beat a child and also stop him from crying? Any argument that workers can’t call for strike when costs of living becomes too high is like beating a baby with a belt and stopping the baby from wailing.

“The position of the Federal government is untenable and no court on earth can rule that workers should become slaves to death due to hard economic measures of government.

“More so, the order of interim injunction of the court was for the first fuel pump price adjustment and it does not apply to the second price hike of petrol as the government also breached the court order by expanding the hardships of workers and poor Nigerians.

“HURIWA urges the NLC not to capitulate to the propaganda of the government and the blackmail of applying gag orders whereas the hard economic policies of government drives everyone to our early graves,” it said.