By Ayo Kehinde
The leadership of Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), Coalition for Revolution (CORE) and the Joint Action Front (JAF) have resolved to support the August 2, nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, to protest against the arbitrary increase in price of petrol and sudden removal of subsidy by the federal government.
In a communique after their meeting and signed by Femi Falana, SAN, for ASCAB, Baba Ayelabola for CORE and Achike Chud for JAF, the group resolved that the twin policies have combined to inflict untold hardship on Nigerians just as the promised palliatives and welfare measures have not materialized almost two months after their implementation.
They therefore resolved as follows:
1. SUPPPORTS the decision of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to call Nigerian workers and poor masses out on protest starting from Wednesday August 2nd 2023 against the wicked and neo-liberal policies of the President Tinubu government, including, the severe hike in the price of petrol and devaluation of the naira.
2. URGES unity of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in their engagement with the Federal Government and encourages them to jointly mobilize for the Wednesday August 2nd mass action.
3. CALLS on the Nigerian working people and youth to see the August 2nd date as the beginning of nationwide resistance against fuel price hike and other anti-poor policies.
4. The trio of ASCAB, CORE and JAF are prepared to join the Nigerian people on that day and subsequently until victory is won.
5. CALLS on the Nigerian working people, the poor masses and radical youth to begin to prepare for mass action on Wednesday by organizing democratically -constituted action committees in their workplaces, communities and campuses.
6. AGREES that the minimum aim of the forthcoming struggle is reversal of the criminal hike of petrol from N617 to N195, reversal of other criminal policies like fee hike in public tertiary institutions, devaluation of the naira, which has added to the untold hardships the people are facing from fuel price hike, rejection of the planned electricity tariff increase, meeting of demands of doctors, other health workers, education workers like ASUU and all other unions, adequate funding of public education, payment of all owed salaries and pension and the signing of a new National Minimum wage agreement to save working people from penury.
7. The ultimate aim is SYSTEM CHANGE which is only achievable through a revolutionary struggle to end the condition of mass misery in the midst of abundance.
