OPS, Youth Groups Beg Labour To Save Nigeria From Anarchy

For the first time since the removal of fuel subsidy sparked off nationwide protests which has paralysed the country, the Organised Private Sector (OPS) has called on both government and the labour to urgently nip in the bud the descent of the nation into anarchy.

OPS specifically told Labour to halt the on-going strike to pave way for meaningful dialogue, saying the present state of confusion is an ill-wind that would blow no one any good.

The private sector operators spoke, just as some youth groups from across the country on Friday, berated the wanton loss of lives and property and asked labour to call off the strike forthwith, so that the situation does not further degenerate.

Director General of the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Muda Yusuf, who gave the position of the OPS, lamented the dangerous trend that the entire protest exercise was beginning to take.

He said urgent steps needed to be taken by both labour and the government to arrest the situation before it degenerated into a state of irredeemable chaos.

He said businesses have recorded huge losses as a result of the strike while workers, who were willing to come to work, were molested and manhandled by hoodlums.

Also speaking on the issue, the President of the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mines and Agriculture  (ABUCCIMA), Dr Solo-mon Iyangba, noted the concern of the chamber about the seeming hijack of the on-going labour protest across the country by miscreants, who are now going about harassing and intimidating innocent Nigerians and even genuine protesters.

He said these criminals and hoodlums that had now subverted and diluted the integrity of the labour protest appeared likely to be sponsored by anti democratic elements and disenfranchised politicians who were taking advantage of the protest to unleash mayhem on Nigerians.

Also commenting, the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS), Mr. Ken Ukaoha, said although they identified with the right of labour and other Nigerians to express their disagreement with any government policy using peaceful means, they were unhappy with the hijack of the protest by criminals.

“Some of our members and their relatives have been victims of the activities of criminals in the course of the labour protest and many of them have ended up mobbed and robbed. Others were manhandled and harassed. We do not think these illegal actions were carried out by genuine protesters but by mobs mobilized by unscrupulous elements in the society to cause wide spread panic in the country,” he said.

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