According to the Nigeria Labour Congress, the recent increase in the pump price of petrol is one of many ways successive governments have stomped on Nigerians' rights without remorse.

According to the NLC, the fuel price increase and other perceived anti-poor measures are weapons of war against Nigerian workers and the public.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero, said that the Nigerian state has essentially declared war on the working class and the majority of Nigerians in a speech at the opening ceremony of a four-day organizing program for leaders of the state councils of the NLC in Lagos.

Ajaero stated in the program sponsored by the American Solidarity Center that trade union leaders must not leave the Nigerian people and workers to their fate.

The NLC President noted that labour leaders across the country “must all join hands in the struggle for the articulation and protection of the rights of Nigerian workers and people.

“All hope that one day, workers of Nigeria will reclaim their natural rights that have been forcefully abridged and trampled upon by uninformed employers and those in government who ought to have been in the vanguard of guaranteeing such rights.”

He lamented that “Various governments in Nigeria have mercilessly trampled upon the rights of Nigerians without any feeling of remorse.

“Politicians have ganged up against the workers and the masses without any consequences.

“It is important to note that governance in Nigeria is always spoken about in paradoxical dimensions.

“Governments are rooted in the lives of the people and thus ought to pursue service to them. But in our nation, governance has become an instrument for inflicting pain and suffering on workers and the masses.

“Recently, we are all witnessed the steep heartless hike in the price of PMS by the Federal Government under the guise of the so-called petroleum subsidy withdrawal without making alternative arrangements to cushion the expected and well-known impact of such unconscionable action.

“That clearly shows that the Nigerian State, from all corners, is clearly at war with the people and workers.