Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) has declared a nationwide strike to protest the federal government’s removal of petrol subsidy.
JUSUN’s General Secretary, M.J. Akwashiki, in a statement on Monday directed all branches and chapters of the workers’ union to begin nationwide mobilisation and withdrawal of service.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s announcement of subsidy removal on May 29 engineered all Nigerian oil marketers, including government-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to increase pump price of the product above expectations.
The subsidy removal has resulted in about 176 percent increase in the price of petrol from N194 to about N537 per litre.
Akwashiki in the statement said the nationwide strike followed “a decision of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) at her meeting on 2nd June, 2023 over the increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government through the NNPCL”.
NLC and its affiliates had announced plan to commence strike by Wednesday to register their rejection of the subsidy removal. Labour is aggrieved that the federal government hurriedly removed subsidy on petrol without consultation with relevant stakeholders on how to manage the fallouts.
“All zonal vice presidents are to coordinate their zones by ensuring that branch and chapters chairmen mobilise their members for a total compliance,” Akwashiki said.
The federal government had promised to set up a tripartite committee to agree on the modalities for implementation of the post subsidy programme, a move NLC said was an afterthought.
