Abuja — The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has said Nigerians have been facing severe hardship with the hyper-inflation in the country.
In its new year message issued yesterday, by TUC president, Festus Usifo, the congress lamented that Nigerians have faced various calamities and challenges in the last few years, with the situation unabating.
“The life of the Nigerian mases was made more difficult by hyper- inflation which notched above 20 per-cent, misery index which soared to all time high, hydra-headed unemployment and numerous unfulfilled promises.
“Sadly, Nigerians ended the year with another unnecessary death; that of Mrs Omobolanle Raheem, a pregnant lawyer whose promising life was eclipsed on Christmas Day by a trigger-happy police officer.
“On a personal level, the over six million dynamic members of the TUC lost its former Secretary General Comrade Musa-Lawal Ozigi and our Kwara State Chairman, Comrade Akin Akinsola to the March 28, 2022 bandits train attack.
“It is to the resilience of Nigerians in restarting the Abuja-Kaduna train services on December 5, 2022 that our 2023 New Year Message is directed,” he said.
While enumerating some of the key issues that are agitating the minds of Nigerian workers, Usifo said they included, insecurity, hyper-inflation, opposition to the removal of subsidy on imported petroleum products, restoration of sanity in the education sector, tackling corruption and enthroning good education.
“We cannot say that Nigerians have enjoyed good governance since the return of democracy in 1999. Our institutions and public resources have been mismanaged and human rights abused. Growth and development have eluded the country because there is hardly accountability on the part of the leadership.
“They abuse the system because they believe they do not need our votes to emerge. How wrong they are this time.
Nigerian workers will hold elected government accountable henceforth as good governance is nonnegotiable moving forward,” added Usifo.
On the general elections which is less than eight weeks away, the TUC said the elections would actually determine whether Nigerians learnt any lesson from previous elections and successive administrations.
“We appeal to Nigerians not to sell their votes, but elect leaders they can trust. This is the only veritable way of putting the country on the part of growth and development.
“Fellow Compatriots, we can give birth to a New Nigeria if we unite to demand good governance not just from the Buhari government but also from those who may win elections at state and national levels in 2023.
“We must demand a new trajectory of governance, assert our sovereignty over all those in government, hold governments at all levels to their constitutional duties and make them accountable to the Nigerian people.
“If we unite and are determined, the pains of 2022 can be replaced by gains in 2023. We and our compatriots in the Labour Movement are ready to lead the populace in this charge towards the New Nigeria which we so richly deserve,” it stated.