Anambra workers on Tuesday, February 27, decried the withdrawal of the wage award announced by Governor Chukwuma Soludo to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

Soludo had last year announced the introduction of the wage award of N12,000 per worker, starting in September and lasting for four months until December 2023.

However, during the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) nationwide protest in Awka, workers questioned the governor’s decision to withdraw the wage increase while the economic challenges caused by the removal of fuel subsidy persisted.

Addressing the workers, the state NLC chairman, Comrade Humphery Nwafor, noted that the removal of the wage award would exacerbate the hardships faced by the masses.

He said the protest was in line with the directive of the national body against the policies of the federal government.

Describing the protest as peaceful, Nwafor urged the workers not to be violent and ensure they conducted themselves in an orderly manner.

He said: “We are marching against the policies of the federal government that have inflicted hardship on the entire citizenry, not only the workers.

“We want the government to end the hardship, hunger, and consistent increase in exchange rate. Workers are slumping and dying every day. People are walking corpses.

“Inflation has taken over everything we worked for. The N30,000 minimum wage which some states are not paying is no longer enough.

“We can’t pay our house rent, feed our children, and pay their school fees. You go to the market and come back with an empty bag. The federal government must have to address this problem.”

The workers, during the protest, moved from Aroma junction to the Government House, Awka to register their displeasure over the rising cost of living and economic hardship being faced by Nigerians.

Source: The Nation