27 December 2011, Sweetcrude, LAGOS – The umbrella body for the civil society allies of organised labour in Nigeria, the Joint Action Front (JAF), will hold a mass protest against government’s plan to hike fuel prices on January 3, 2012.
The pro-Labour civil society component of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) is also protesting against Federal Government’s privatisation of the public assets in the country as well as the planned privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Convener of the group, Dr. Dipo Fashina, at a press conference in Lagos, urged Nigerian workers and masses to join forces with labour movement to resist any increase in the prices of fuel.
He said Nigerians should shut down any filling station that sells petroleum products above N65 per litre.
Secretary general of the group, Comrade Abiodun Aremu, spoke of the “scandalous revelations from the Senate probe on Privatisation and the resolve by the ruling class to continue with the failed IMF/World Bank policies,” which, according to him, are responsible for job losses and collapse of local industries.
According to him, the growing rate of millions of unemployed, mass poverty and lack of access to basic necessities of life are clear testimonies of the desperation by those in power perpetuate corrupt practices.
