The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stated on Wednesday that the warning by the Department of State Services (DSS) for it to shelve its planned protests cannot stop the union from embarking on the protests.
In a statement signed by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, the union insisted that the planned protests, which are against the prevailing economic situation in the country, would hold contrary to the warning issued.
News About Nigeria reported that the organised labour had announced on Monday that they had begun mobilisation of members for a nationwide protest slated for February 27 and 28 over the current economic hardship plaguing the nation.
In reaction to the announcement by organised labour, the DSS urged the union to shelve the plan in the interest of peace and public order.
The spokesman of the Secret Service, Peter Afunanya in a statement released on Wednesday had urged the union to pursue dialogue and negotiation rather than engage in conduct that could heighten tensions.
However, the NLC has insisted that the protests will still hold so the President Bola Tinubu-led government will understand what the masses are suffering in these times.
The NLC President also chided the DSS for saying that the protest might lead to unrest across the nation, noting that there has never been any such occurrences in the history of protests by the union.
The statement partly reads, “We are concerned by the unsolicited advice of the Department of State Security to shelve our planned protest against the unprecedented high cost of living despite the indescribable suffering in the land, spiralling inflation, deepening poverty, and the Naira at an exchange rate of N1,900 to the US Dollar.
“According to the Service, the planned protest should be shelved ‘in the interest of peace and public order’, pre-supposing that the action is intended to be violent and disruptive even when we have a history of peaceful protests.”
The organised labour also noted that it is worried because the DSS has now become the mouthpiece of the government of the day instead of carrying out its primary assignment.
