Planned protest: MSA urges NLC, TUC to unite

The movement for Socialist Alternative (MSA) has called on NLC and TUC to unite toward the planned protest against hardship in Nigeria.

Dagga Tolar, General Secretary MSA said in a statement at the weekend while welcoming the planned protest said, “The labour leaders of both the NLC and TUC must not bring their petty rivalry into play in this protest action. They must, in unison, act in one concert to mobilise the entirety of the working masses from all sectors of the economy across all ethnic and religious divisions. This is also not the time to stand aside and blame those who voted or didn’t vote. We must all act together in concert to insist that the Tinubu regime, as a matter of necessity, governs from the point of view of meeting the needs of the working masses as opposed to the greed for explorative profit by big business and foreign capital. If otherwise, quit power immediately so that the working masses and their organisations can fully take the rein of power and do what is needed to reorganise society by nationalising the commanding sectors of the economy under workers’ control and management.”

MSA noted earlier, “The path to salvaging Nigeria is finally opening up, with the working masses already trooping into the streets, state after state, to protest against the rise in the cost of living crisis that has plagued all goods and services. This crisis is, first and foremost, a product of the Neoliberal capitalist policies of Deregulation and privatisation that have been imposed regime after regime since the mid-1980s with the same result of failure and worsening economic woes for the country.

“The movement for Socialist Alternative (MSA) maintains that the only class that can rescue the country and halt the drift into the abyss is the working masses. This explains why we call on workers, both formal and informal, farmers, youth, students, artisans, market women & men, etc, who constitute the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, to fully partake in the two days of National protest on 27 and 28 February slated for all parts of the country.”

Also, the MSA welcomed the JAF day of mobilisation, which was fixed for February 26, to sensitise the public on the necessity for mass involvement in the two-day protest called by the labour leaders.

“The successes of this protest action will go a long way to sending the necessary signal to the Tinubu regime and the whole of the ruling class that the working masses can no longer and will no longer be docile or unresponsive to the biting hunger and unwarranted hardship imposed on them.

“These two days of protest must be taken as a warning action in preparation for a 48 hours General Strike that will further press home the demand for a living wage and the necessary adequate public funding for education, health, electricity, etc., for the necessary quality delivery of services at public expense for all. We also insist on the nationalisation of the oil and gas sector, which will free the funds for the construction of new state-of-the-art refineries, avoid the fraud and scam of subsidy, and make these essential goods useful and available to all.”