Fuel price hike: Students, workers, civil society protest in Ibadan

Uba Group
MEMBERS of the National Association of Nigerian Students; workers, under the aegis of Trade Union Congress; and civil society organisations took to the streets of Ibadan, Oyo State, on Tuesday, to protest the recent increase in electricity tariff and the price of petrol.

The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions and chanted songs to register their grievances with the Federal Government.

They gathered at Awolowo Junction, in the Bodija area of Ibadan.

They said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration was pursuing anti-people policies, noting that they would not accept the recent fuel price hike and increase in electricity tariff.

The Chairman, Joint Campus Committee of NANS, Mayowa Opakunle, said, “We are out on the streets to register our grievances and show our displeasure at the wicked policies and unjust treatment of Nigerians by the Federal Government.

“We say no to fuel price hike and electricity tariff increment at this period, when many people have lost their jobs and many have not even been paid salaries for the past six months.”

He added, “Prices of food, other goods and services have continued to increase while salaries are either being slashed into half for so many while others don’t even get at all.

“Despite these hardships, the government has continued to increase prices of commodities. The consistent show of ineptitude and cluelessness on the part of the President and his cabinet is worrisome.”

On behalf of the workers, the immediate past chairman of Trade Union Congress in Oyo State, Andrew Emelieze, also kicked against the increment, saying that it would further impoverish the masses.