Samuel Marshall
As Nigeria continues to feel the impacts of economic reforms handed down by the major international lending institutions, its people, in agony, poured out in their major cities on Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th February 2024, protesting economic conditions that are hard to endure. This came after a 14-day ultimatum expired, which the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had issued to government to implement agreed ameliorative measures.
The umbrella workers’ unions, the NLC and the TUC led the people onto the streets, flying banners and chanting slogans, with the Abuja version of the protests presenting their list of demands to the National Assembly.
In the reality of the difficulties, the citizens groan as they buy a litre of petrol for thrice its price as at the advent of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration on 29th May 2023.
Prices of staple foods like garri, rice, and beans have more than doubled in the period.
The President’s policies of reduced government contribution to the people’s welfare have been a target of criticism. Last year, his approaches to subsidy removal on petrol ignited inflation across-the-board, followed by widespread workers’ strikes.
In search of efforts to help the down-trodden Nigerians, he had, on Sunday 25th February 2024, constituted an economic advisory committee “to stabilize the economy and secure the best economic future” for the citizens.
But observers are skeptical about how the thinking energy of such a group, born of a dependent economy, could conceive strategies to navigate Nigeria out of the divers pressures that have persistently lowered its people’s purchasing power.***
