Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, said this on Thursday in Abuja at a ceremony to mark the 2020 Global Day of Action on Care.

This year’s ceremony has the theme: “Invest in Care Now!’’

Wabba said that the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed the neglect of the healthcare industry in the country.

Wabba, who is also the President of International Trade Union Confederation(ITUC), said that the theme was apt as it highlights the urgent need for massive investment in the healthcare sector.

According to him, COVID-19 has fully exposed several countries, including Nigeria, as not having invested enough in health care institutions, putting everyone, both rich and poor, at high risks.

”The theme: ‘Invest in Care Now!’ is to drum up demands for heavy investments in the care sector by our government and big businesses, if we must keep a healthy society and productive human resource base.

“Apart from the open fact that our health care sector has been neglected for too long, health care workers have been subjected to unfair treatment for too long.

“Essential workers, as they are often called at crisis times, do not have the necessary personal protective equipment to work with, especially before the outbreak of COVID-19.

“Government waited for the pandemic before it woke up to the reality of the decadence in our health care sector.

“Even now, enough has not been done to properly equip the sector and properly kit health workers across the country,” he regretted.

He opined that with the massive resources at government’s disposal, Nigeria could afford to build and effectively equip some of the best hospitals in the world, with global best practices and personnel.

He, however, noted that successive governments had failed to treat healthcare as a top priority beyond mere policy statements.

“We believe that now is the time for our government at all levels to demonstrate keen attention to the health sector.

“The current pandemic has shown how important healthcare is to all sectors and citizens of any country.

“Owing to COVID-19 pandemic, our economy has suffered huge losses both in human and capital investment.

“No country will grow with such avoidable losses.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has also exposed the risks health care workers face daily in the course of their duties as they do not have adequate and appropriate safety gears, access to their own health care, decent pay commensurate with the work they do.

“Healthcare workers also need standard day care centres to keep their children when schools are not open and, or infants that are not of school age, to enable them concentrate on their work.

“It is also important that they are granted paid medical leave that include their immediate families.

“This will also help to curb the spread of airborne diseases they are exposed to at their workplaces,” he added.

The NLC president called for full membership of trade unions by all health workers, including those in private facilities, to give them the coverage to demand for their rights and enable unions monitor safety standards at the care centres.

He added that the measure would form part of the campaign in support of health care workers in both public and private sectors.

Wabba added that the campaigns would be carried out in collaboration with affiliates in the health sector and also in partnership with willing associations or organisations among civil society organisations.

“I also call on the Federal Government to pay the two months salaries owed health workers arising from an industrial dispute in 2018.

“The recent seven days warning strike by the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) to resolve the outstanding issues is yet to receive the attention of government and a social dialogue meeting on this matter is yet to be convened.

“We also demand a quick conclusion on negotiations on salary adjustment for JOHESU members in line with alternative dispute resolution processes of National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which all parties involved in the negotiation are subjected to.

“We also call for an end to all forms of medical tourism, especially by our elected and appointed public officials.

“We reiterate our position that government must be ready to invest heavily in the health sector as no country survives without effective health care,” he said.

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Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, made the call during the celebration of the 2020 World Decent Work Day on Wednesday in Abuja.

The 2020 World Decent Work Day has “A New Social Contract for Recovery and Resilience” as its theme.

Wabba said that the novel COVID-19 pandemic had “exposed the inadequacies of the current flawed economic model of globalisation occasioned by wealth accumulation and lack of social justice in the country`’.

He said that it was necessary for government to put in place such plans in order to withstand further shocks from the resurgence of fresh outbreaks of COVID-19 and other health and socio-economic dislocations.

“We were already faced with the prevalence of massive income inequality, racial injustice and gender discrimination in addition to the destruction resulting from extreme weather events due to climate change.

“We were also confronted with the choices associated with the best and worst impacts of technology, devoid of a rights base.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant risks to economies and societies are very palpable.

“There is no other sphere that the impact of the COVID-19 was more brutally felt than the world of work.

“Currently, apart from the health fatalities affecting workers, more than 400 million jobs have been lost to the pandemic,” he said.

Wabba noted that in Nigeria, COVID-19 only compounded the frail shape of an already existing fragility in the industrial space and associated social support system.

The NLC president further said that many employers of labour had latched on to the economic slow-down to vent their venom on poor workers with many workplaces effecting massive layoffs, retrenchments and retirements.

“We recall that upon the first phase of the easing of the lockdown, Access Bank fired 800 of its staff. Access Bank was only testing the waters as other banks were already primed to follow suit.

“It took the intervention of the NLC to halt the anti-workers purge in our banking sector and indeed other sectors of the national economy.

“We wondered what happened to the surplus profits realised from the toil and sweat of workers when the going was good.

“We also reached out to the employers in the private sector through the auspices of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).

“The fruit of that strategic engagement was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Job Protection,” he said.

He said organised Labour and the House of Representatives had put together an Emergency Economic Stimulus Bill 2020, but admitted that the measures currently put in place to safeguard jobs and employment were only short to medium term.

“A lasting and fundamental approach to dealing with the workplace dislocations occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, including the huge gale of indecent work, is to demand for a new social contract.

“A new social contract anchored on shared prosperity and social justice is central to charting the path to recovery from the effects COVID-19.

“This is an important step in offering hope to working people all over the world,” he said.

Wabba called on the Federal Government to design a recovery plan that rebuilds the social contract between government and societies and hoisted on the foundations of resilience.

He added that Nigeria must ensure that Decent Work was at the centre of government actions to bring back economic growth and build a new global economy that puts people and the planet first.

“In this wise, we call on the Nigerian government and governments around the world to put in place recovery and resilience plans which prioritise jobs, secured employment, workplace rights, income protection and minimum living wages.

“Others include occupational safety and health, and universal social protection, especially basic income, for workers in the informal sector, the sick, the elderly and for those without employment.

“In pursuit of a new social contract that guarantees Decent Work, we also call for the universal right to freedom of association and collective bargaining and provisions for safe workplaces in tandem with global best practices.

“We must also call for equality and inclusion, especially through equal economic participation of women, all racial groups, migrant workers and young workers.

“This is with a guarantee that these vulnerable segments of the workforce are protected from any form of discrimination, harassment and violence in line with Convention 190 of the International Labour Organisation.

“Organised Labour demand these as basic minimum fundamental rights of working persons in the formal and informal sectors,” he said.

Wabba further said that this would create an enabling broader environment for the sustenance of the fundamental rights at work places.

“We also call for a rejig of the world economic system. We also demand that Just Transitions for climate and technology should be central in economic planning and policy framing.

“It is on the basis of the foregoing that we insist that Decent Work, through a New Social Contract, is non-negotiable,” he said.

He, however, called on trade unions to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of Decent Work in all workplaces.

He added that pursuing decent work was not only a just task, but also a divine mandate.

“We must rally together to stamp out every vestige of casualisation of labour, unjust wages and the denial of workers’ fundamental rights to form, join and participate in the activities of trade unions,” he said.

He called on government to ensure that the commanding heights of the economy must not be left in a few hands but must be managed by government in the interest of the majority of citizens.

“It is on this note that we insist that government must respect the terms of the recent agreement signed with labour, especially with regards to the overhauling of our national refineries.

“We also demand the reversal of the failed privatisation of our power sector. We insist that government has business in business,” he declared.

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Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, while addressing newsmen at the end of the body’s Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, said that workers and Nigerians were disappointment that government decided to increase the cost of both items.

“We are surprised that at a time other countries across the world are giving palliatives to their citizens to cushion the effect of COVID-19, Nigerians are asked to pay more for fuel and electricity,” he said.

He said that the CWC meeting focused on the two challenges and concluded that the COVID-19 situation had given Nigerians enough suffering.

“A hike, as announced by government, has reduced the purchasing power of Nigerians and Nigerian workers.

“It has also brought about a high cost of goods and services which has completely eroded the gains of the N30,000 minimum wage.

“The CWC and the National Executive Council (NEC) also took reports of the meeting that took place between the Federal Government and organised labour where NLC was represented by 14 of its leaders.

“After examining the outcome of the meeting, we resolved to issue a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to reverse the fuel price hike or face industrial action.

“In furtherance to this, the CWC also resolved to convene a meeting of the NEC in line with our constitution, on Sept. 22, 2020.

“This is to also give effect to the decision because the proposed action will commence on Monday, September 28, 2020 `if the issues are not addressed.”

Wabba said that the CWC would also mobilise its members, civil society allies and other social partners to try to resist the policies as it had driven many into poverty.

The NLC president said that the CWC members also shared their aims and experiences arising from the exploitative nature of the recent policies of government.

He added that the declining economic power was evident among many as the N30,000 minimum wage could not actually pay for electricity in many homes.

“The experience we have here is that somebody actually loaded a credit of N30,000 and it could not take him two weeks. That is the general experience all over the country.

“The hike is one decision that is biting every worker and every family. I think it is a decision that certainly requires reversion,” he said.

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Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC President, gave the warning in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

Wabba said that Nigerians were still going through some of the worst socio-economic vicissitudes caused by the novel coronavirus disease.

The labour leader was reacting to the recent attempt by electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), acting under the auspices of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), to unilaterally increase electricity tariff by about 100 per cent from 1st July 2020.

He described the planned move as insensitive and provocative.

Wabba said that Nigerians would recall that a similar move was made in March 2020 by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) but was successfully rebuffed by the NLC and the Nigerian public.

According to him, NLC rejects any further hike in electricity tariff, the pump price of petrol and other essential public utility charges.

“The NLC is fully ready to mobilise our people to resist attempts by anyone to impose modern-day slavery on Nigerians, be they DISCOs or Regulators of Public Utilities.

“We insist that further hike in tariff and user access charges at this time of great socio-economic dislocation would be ultra-insensitive, callous and a pre-meditated attempt to send many Nigerians, workers, pensioners and businesses to untimely graves.

“In the interest of fairness, equity and justice, we demand that the DISCOs refund Nigerians all the estimated billings that had been unjustly collected from our people all these years.

“We also demand that DISCOs must pay consumers the cost that their inefficiency has imposed on citizens, residents and businesses.

DISCOs must also repay bailout funds they had unjustly collected from public coffers.

“We wish to remind the DISCOs that the provision of pre-paid meters, transformers and investment in the sector are statutorily the job of the DISCOs, not consumers or the government,’’ he said.

Wabba said that DISCOs were fully aware of the conditions before subscribing to the power sector privatisation programme.

He added that enough of the lies, deceit and exploitation of the Nigerian people.

“On the strength of the open admission by DISCOs in Nigeria to their own grand incompetence and crass failure, we call on the Federal Government to immediately set in motion processes for the review of the power sector privatisation. Enough is enough.

“The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress reiterates its resolve to act on the side and in the interest of the Nigerian people, workers and pensioners always,’’ Wabba added.

He also commended the intervention by the Senate in calling off the threat by Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to hike the electricity tariff.

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Mr Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President made the call on Tuesday in commemoration of the 2020 International Workers’ Memorial Day with the theme: “Stop the Pandemic at Work”.

“On this occasion, we make the point that labour is not a commodity to be taken, trampled, and tossed aside.

“Workers create the wealth and demand a decent fraction of the reward of their efforts.

“We urge workers everywhere to continue to draw inspiration from the fact that without our sweat, no sweet gain can be made.

“Without the twitching of our muscles, no socio-economic puzzle can be solved.

“In reciprocation of the enormous sacrifice made by workers, we urge employers of labour to show solidarity with the sacrifice of our workers and people by ensuring wage protection, income support and social inclusion at these trying times.

“This is not the time to stop or deduct from workers’ salaries. Such an action would be both illogical and illegal as workers’ salaries are core elements of employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements.

“We have asked our affiliates and state councils to resist any salary deduction on the account of COVID-19.

“We reassure our workers that our priority in these trying times remains the cautious, gradual, evidence-led and smart restart of the economy so that our workers can go back to work,” he said.

He said that the NLC was completely committed to the recovery of lost jobs, protection of wages, support for income and livelihood and improvement of Nigeria’s social safety net.

Wabba, while speaking on the commemoration of the day said the celebration was in the memory of workers who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the course of their duties as workers or as activists fighting for the rights and interests of the working class.

He said that it was also a day to remember workers, who had lost some limbs, suffered injury and other forms of severe loss while at their work places.

“The theme of this year’s commemoration is “Stop the Pandemic at Work”.

“This is significant coming at the epoch of the global fight against the novel corona virus disease otherwise known as COVID-19.

“The contribution of frontline workers, especially healthcare workers, has become the only buffer between deaths in thousands and deaths in millions.

“Every day, our healthcare workers courageously dare the stare of death in selfless service to rescue the lives of others.

“On a day like this, we salute the uncommon love, faith, courage, and sacrifice by frontline workers who have given more than what the call of duty demands to give hope to humanity,” he said.

He said that the society would forever remain in indebted to thousands of healthcare workers, transport workers, utility employees, journalists.

“Even workers in the informal sector who have continued to show up at their duty posts despite the threat of death, dearth of working tools and paucity of gratitude,” he said.

The NLC president condoled with the families of workers who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the fight against COVID-19.

He assured them that their labours would not be in vain and their unquantifiable sacrifice would never be forgotten.

“We also wish to use this commemoration to ask government and employers in the private sector to throw in sufficient weight to make the load of our frontline workers easier.

“We demand sufficient personal protection equipment, hand sanitizers, functional wash rooms, suitable rest rooms and other facilities to make the work of our brave warriors on the health frontline less herculean than it already is.

“Our health workers and other frontline workers are not on a suicide mission.

“They simply want to save lives. The least government and employers can do is to help them keep their lives so that they can go on saving other lives.

“We commend the Federal Government for the insurance cover and enhanced incentives provided for frontline health workers. We urge states to follow suit.

“We also commend the Sokoto State government for leading the way in this regard,” he said.

He however noted that Nigeria would be celebrating its 60th Independence, saying it was important to point out that without workers, the independence would have remained a pipe dream.

He further called on the leadership of the industrial unions to ensure that health and safety facilities and guidelines such as running water, soaps, sanitizers, protective masks and social distancing were made available and enforced at different workplaces.

He noted that this would be part of smart measures to restart the economy, “while the government should intensify COVID-19 testing (build at least a test centre in each state), contact tracing, public fumigation, and robust public health education.”

Wabba said given the current lockdown and in line with global realities, 2020 May Day celebration would be low key.

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The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at a meeting with the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC)-Trade Union Side) in Abuja, warned that labour would not guarantee industrial peace in the country if their demands were not met by government.

Public sector workers in Nigeria have been contending with frustrations from day to day, following the inability of the Federal Government and organized labour to reach a deal over a new wage that came into effect more than six months ago.

In a statement jointly signed by NLC the President, Ayuba Wabba, his TUC counterpart, Quadri Olaleye and Simon Anchaver, Acting Chairman of JNPSNC (Trade Union Side), the unionists said that labour had all along demonstrated restraint and patience with government.

They noted that labour had to moderate its initial position of having 66.6 per cent upward salary adjustment for workers on salary grade level 07 to grade level 17 by accepting downward adjustment of 29 per cent for officers on salary levels 07-14 and 24 per cent adjustment for officers on salary grade levels 15-17.

“Despite this patriotic gesture, government has kept insisting that it can only pay 11 per cent for officers on grade levels 07-14 and 6.5 per cent consequential wage increase to public workers for officers on levels 15-17.”

According to them, the naira has suffered devaluation from N150 to $1 in 2011 to N360 to $1 in 2019, a depreciation of 140 per cent.

The unionists said that since the last national minimum wage of N18,000 was put in place, workers had been forced to suffer huge inflation and astronomical hike in the prices of essential goods and services.

They pointed out that petroleum price had been hiked from N87 per litre to N145 per litre which translated to 60 per cent price increase and that electricity tariff increased by about 60 per cent.

“Of recent, the Value Added Tax (VAT) has been reviewed from 5 per cent to 7.2 per cent.

“The non-chalant attitude of the government negotiating side has dragged negotiations for consequential wages adjustment unduly.

“The offer by government for salary adjustment of 11 per cent for public workers on salary grade levels 07 – 14 and 6.5 per cent consequential increase for public workers on grade levels 15 – 17 is not acceptable to Nigerian workers.

“We view the position of government as a show of insensitivity to the general plight of workers and an attempt to collect with the left hand what government has offered with the right hand.

“We demand the reconvening of the meeting of the committee negotiating the consequential adjustment with a view to concluding the process that started on May 28 within one week.

“Entering into an agreement with labour to the effect that salary of officers on grade 07-14 should be reviewed upward by 29 per cent while that of officers on grade level 15-17 should be reviewed upwards by 24 per cent.

“We demand immediate implementation of the signed agreement on consequential adjustment of public workers’ salaries with effect from April 18 when the new national minimum wage of N30, 000 per month was signed into law,” they said.

Recall that the new minimum wage bill was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on April 18.

However, deliberations has continued as the issue of relativity and consequential adjustment of salaries still persist.

On May 14, the Federal Government inaugurated the relativity/consequential adjustment committee, which in turn set up a technical sub-committee, to work out a template for the adjustment of salaries of public service employees.

However, government and labour have failed to reach an agreement over relativity and consequential adjustment for the implementation of the new minimum wage more than six months since Buhari signed the Minimum Wage Bill into law.

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This is contained in a letter signed by the President of the NLC, Mr Ayuba Wabba, in Abuja.

Wabba said that Ngige’s reappointment was a testament of the confidence President Muhammadu Buhari reposed on him.

He called on Ngige to steer the affairs of the ministry towards the upliftment of Nigerians from poverty, indignity and indecent work conditions.

“On behalf of my family and the NLC, I wish to congratulate you on your recent appointment by Mr President as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“And your subsequent designation as the Minister of Labour and Employment,” he said.

Wabba said it was the NLC’s expectation that the minister would use the opportunity of his reappointment to promote and advance tripartism.

The NLC president also called on the minister to enbrace social dialogue, decent work conditions and harmonious industrial relations in Nigeria.

Wabba furthered wished Ngige a very successful tenure.

Rrecall that the NLC had warned President Muhammadu Buhari not to return Dr Chris Ngige as the Minister of Labour and Employment in the next cabinet. It warned that returning the former Anambra State governor as minister would create industrial crisis, adding that Ngige lacked the approach to lead workers.

Towards the end of Ngige’s tenure as labour minister, there were clashes between him and labour leaders over his delay in inaugurating the board of the National Social Insurance Trust Fund more than three years after the expiration of the tenure of the last board.

Labour also took on him over his exclusion of Frank Kokori as the chairman of the board.

The union held a protest against him in his house which led to a fracas that landed some NLC members at the National Hospital in Abuja after they were allegedly attacked by thugs.

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NLC President, Dr Ayuba Wabba, and its immediate past General Secretary, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson, who jointly signed the communiqué, at the end of its meeting in Kano, called for the immediate implementation effective from the day the Minimum Wage was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It was reported that the new minimum wage bill, which was signed into law by the president in April, had been stalled over the issue of relativity and consequential adjustment of salaries following deliberations between government and labour.

“The NEC noted with dismay the continued delay by the Federal Government and other tiers of government to implement the new national minimum wage of N30, 000 as recently enacted.

“The NEC emphatically posited that the government can no longer hide under protracted negotiations with workers in the public sector for consequential salary adjustment based on the new national minimum wage to delay the implementation of the new national minimum wage.

“After very vigorous deliberation on the need to immediately implement the national minimum wage, the NEC insists that the payment of the new national minimum wage should commence immediately.’’

On challenges of insecurity, the NEC said that there had been increase in the wave of insecurity in the country, especially due to resurgence in kidnapping for ransom and armed robbery, communal clashes and Boko Haram attacks.

The NEC expressed alarm at the recent confessions of a recently arrested bandit who allegedly disclosed that helicopters drop weapons for criminals, thus suggesting possible collusion between criminal elements and big-time financiers of criminality.

“The NEC also expressed worries over recent upsurge in attacks by Boko Haram terrorists who recently attacked three local governments of Gubio, Magumeri and Konduga in Borno North and the villages of Dille, Lassa, Ngurthlavu, Dagu, Yaffa, Maikadiri, and Kidlindila in Askira/Uba local government area of Borno South.

According to the communiqué, most of the victims of the renewed security breaches in the country are workers and poor citizens, noting with alarm the impact of the rising wave of criminality on the lives of citizens and the socio-economic conditions in the country.

It reiterated that the primary responsibility of government was the security of lives and property, calling on government at all levels to improve in the quality and quantity of policing deployed for the security of citizens and property.

It noted that the NLC had resolved to convene a National Security Summit to dispassionately engage the current challenge of insecurity in Nigeria and proffer sustainable solutions.

NLC said that to this effect, rallies would hold across the country to sensitise government and citizens on the need to address insecurity.

It called on government to further empower the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to prevail upon DISCOs to scrap the practice of estimated billings, enforce relevant laws and guidelines outlawing estimated billings and immediately deploy pre-paid meters to electricity consumers all over the country.

“This would be in line with earlier deadlines given by NERC to DISCOs to supply pre-paid meters to electricity consumers in the country; and

“While rejecting further hike in electricity tariff, the NEC called on the government to make electricity available and affordable.

“It was the conviction of the NEC that continuous hike in electricity tariff and persistent power outages present huge financial burden for businesses thus making goods and services produced in Nigeria not to be competitive as goods cum services produced elsewhere.’’

On the national economy, the NEC also urged government to take adequate steps to develop people oriented socio-economic policies to address endemic poverty and inequality faced by workers and citizens all over the country.

It commended the Federal Government for the executive order mandating that the uniforms used by the military and para-military services, students, prisoners and other persons required to wear uniforms be produced in Nigeria.

“It was the considered view of the NEC that such policy directives go a long way in mobilising support for locally produced goods and ensuring the competitiveness of local industries and manufacturers.’’

The NEC commended the Federal Government for robustly engaging social partners particularly organised labour and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, prior to Nigeria’s ratification of the signed African Continental Free Trade Agreement AfCFTA.

It urged the Federal Government to robustly negotiate and finalise the clause on “The Rule of Origin” and “Sensitive Products” to ensure that goods traded within the AfCFTA have significant local content.

“The NEC also implored government to ensure protection of identified sensitive products. This is in order to pre-empt turning Nigeria into a dumping ground.

“We encourage sister trade union centres in Africa to robustly engage their governments on AfCFTA implementation to protect the interest of workers and local economies in the continent.’’

On protection of Civil Liberties including Right to Peaceful Protests, the NEC reiterated the traditional position of congress on the protection of fundamental human rights including the right to freedom of association and right to peaceful protest.

It however urged government security agencies to ensure respect for those rights.

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Mr Ayuba Wabba, NLC president, in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, emphasised the need for love, humility, and sacrifice, saying that the attributes were crucial to healing Nigeria’s ills.

“As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate Eid-el Kabir, the NLC wishes to congratulate our Muslim faithful and remind everyone that the festival represents total obedience to Allah’s command, and ultimate sacrifice.

“It also symbolises love, through sharing, humility, peace and good neighbourliness.

“We do believe that this Eid-el Kabir has come at a time when great challenges, both economic and social, are threatening our common bond and values that hold us together.

“It therefore, offers us a great opportunity for deep reflection and rededication of our lives to nation building.

“We have no doubt that with love, humility and sacrifice, peace and healing shall return to our nation.

“In the light of this, we urge all Nigerians, and not just Muslims, to imbibe the spirit of Eid-el Kabir for a greater and better Nigeria,” the NLC said.

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Recall that the publisher of Sahara Reporters and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the February 2019 elections was arrested in the early hours of Saturday by operatives of the Department of State Services in Lagos.

The protests held on Aug. 5 in some states of the federation, with security agencies arresting some protesters.

While Sowore was moved to Abuja on Sunday and currently being detained in the custody of the DSS, 26 other protesters have been arraigned in a Lagos court.

NLC General Secretary, Dr Peter Ozo-Eson in a statement on Wednesday said the right to peaceful protests, assembly and association is fully guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under sections 39 and 40.

According to him, the NLC view the violent attack on the peaceful protesters by security forces as a total violation of their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the constitution.

“Besides, peaceful protests against perceived anti-people government policies is one of the critical fundamental rights that expands the entrenchment and growth of democracy.

“Sowore and other protesters were not carrying arms against the state and we therefore demand their immediate release unconditionally.”

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