It was learned that the NLC will on Wednesday picket the CBN headquarters and state offices in protest at the persisting currency crisis and petrol shortages in the country.
The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, who announced this at a news conference on Wednesday, noted that people’s difficulties over the naira issue had intensified.
The union had on Monday given a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government to solve the shortage of naira notes and petrol which had aggravated the challenges being experienced by Nigerians.
Though the CBN said then that it had complied with the Supreme Court judgment which directed that the old N200, N500 and N1000 notes should remain legal tender till December 31, banks have continued to ration the amount of cash issued to customers, indicating that they have not received cash supplies from the apex bank.
The three states of Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara which sued the Federal Government over the naira redesign policy had threatened to file contempt charges against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN and the CBN governor, Emefiele for not fully complying with the Supreme Court judgment.
Speaking at a press event in Abuja on Wednesday, Ajaero said the planned picketing of CBN offices became urgent after the central bank’s inability to comply with the one-week deadline given to it to make cash accessible for Nigerians.
Ajaero added that the union made the decision when it realized that the situation looked to be growing worse despite the Supreme Court judgment allowing the old N500 and N1000 notes to circulate alongside the new notes until December 31.
He instructed the NLC’s affiliate unions and their state councils to begin mobilisation on Friday for the countrywide mass protest, saying the Federal Government and the CBN had not demonstrated any willingness to fix the problem.
Providing an update regarding the ultimatum during the meeting which was held at Labour House, Ajaero said employees could no longer access cash to pay tickets to their separate jobs or purchase food for their families.
He stated, “Last week after our CWC (Central Working Committee) meeting, we presented a one-week ultimatum for the Federal Government to resolve quickly, among other concerns, the issue of cash crisis that was generated by the policy. As of this morning when the CWC convened again to examine the situation, we noticed that not much progress has been achieved.
“The scenario is still virtually the same. People are still purchasing our money with our currencies. Citizens no longer have access to cash and the administration appears to be quite insistent on this. No measures have been done to ease the suffering of Nigerians
