Workers protesting against the hardship caused by the removal of petrol subsidy have broken through the gate of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The demonstrators forced their way in after their demand to be allowed in wasn’t granted.
They are led by Joe Ajaero of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Similar marches are taking place across Nigeria as workers complain that the 200 percent increase in the price of petrol since 29 May is unbearable.
In Rivers State, protesters chorused “President Tinubu, let the poor breath” as they walked from Labour House to the Government House in Port Harcourt, led by the NLC chairman in the state, Alex Agwanwor.
Police officers monitored the protest from three security patrol vans.
In Lagos, the protesters converged on the Ikeja under-bridge for their march.
Last Wednesday, the NLC issued a seven-day ultimatum to the federal government to reverse all “anti-poor” and “insensitive” policies.
The government tried to prevent the protest by announcing an economic revival plan that included talks about an increase in the national minimum wage, investments in private companies, and the acquisition of CNG-fuelled buses for transportation.
But organized labor said the government has been insincere in the minimum wage talks. Labor unions are asking the federal government to revive Nigeria’s public refineries and punish the cabal whom President Tinubu said fleeced the country in his national broadcast of Monday 31 July.
