Akpan Umoh, Uyo
The Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr Udeme Otong, has pledged legislative action on the demands made by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Akwa Ibom chapter.
Otong pledged while addressing NLC protesters, on Tuesday at the Assembly Complex in Uyo.
He commended their peaceful demonstration and assured them of Governor Umo Eno’s commitment to alleviate their hardships.
The speaker also highlighted the upcoming legislation aimed at reducing the cost of living and stabilizing commodity prices.
“Be assured that no matter what happens you have somebody like me who is once a comrade you can rely on.
“I’ll ensure that all your demands as contained in this letter receive legislative action.
“Thank God we have a proactive governor who is on top of the situation.
‘The three bills we are going to pass today will bring down the cost of living. The Governor has assured me that he will meet with the leadership of NLC and TUC to address some of these issues,” Otong said.
Earlier, the NLC Chairman in the state, Comrade Sunny James, who led the protest, lamented that people have been stretched to their limit due to excessive hunger and hardship in the country.
James urged the state lawmakers to make laws that would address the problems of people which would enable them to eat daily.
He said that the situation of the country does not need laws that do not have meaning and positive impact, adding that Nigerians were suffering due to unfavourable policies of the present Federal Government.
“We are here to present our position to members of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly that they need to make laws in the direction of our problem, laws that will be beneficial to us.
“We don’t need laws that don’t make meaning to us.
“If the leaders are not willing to change the situation, we will force them to change the situation, how can we be buying a bag of rice at N95,000 and a cup of garri N500?
“In Akwa Ibom State, this protest has to be domesticated. We need our gratuity, need our promotion arrears, we need our 2023 promotion to be released immediately.
“We need the CNG busses to work, we need our refineries to work, we need an increase in our wages.
“We need the prices of our staple food to come down, we need to see rice from Ini, we need to see garri and tomatoes being sold at our secretariat here.
“We are presenting these proposals to the governor, and we give him a timeline, if he does not listen to us, we shall gather again for a protest,” James said.
The NLC also commended the Commissioner of Police and the Director of DSS in the State for their solidarity and support, especially for giving the protesters security.