End Hunger, End Suffering Now!
Being text of Press Statement by the Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria, (FIWON) in Support of Mass Protests by Labour and Civil Society Organizations.
Working people in the informal sector; traders, artisans, technicians, small business owners, women working from home and on the streets, waste workers and young people who have no jobs after graduating from School, have been the worst victims of the policies of government particularly since the Covid-19 period in 2020.
The lock downs resulted in terrible hunger, suffering and death while palliatives were diverted to politicians’ homes; the cashless policy imposed on Nigerians in 2023 also destroyed many small businesses and livelihoods.
Now, the policy of increasing the price of fuel by more than 300% combined with the policy of floating the naira exchange value against foreign currencies resulting in gross devaluation of the naira has also resulted in food famine while cost of other essentials like transportation, health care, drugs, building materials have more than trebled in less than one year. Public and private schools have increased fees steeply while drugs are becoming unaffordable for the sick.
Nobody knows how the trillions of naira shared to governors and the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry to assist poor working people and the vulnerable have been spent. We only hear stories of how billions of naira have been stolen by public officials in charge of these funds! Meanwhile, government has no plan to make local refineries work while available dollars are used to import fuel. This situation compounds the foreign exchange crisis resulting in the free fall in value of the naira!
The Federation of Informal Workers’ Organizations of Nigeria (FIWON) will therefore join other civil society organizations organizations to protest
commencing next week against this situation with the following demands:
Government should repair all local refineries within the next 6 months
Reversal of the fuel pump price to pre-29 May prices
Stop and reverse the free fall of the naira with immediate effect: the free market floating of the naira has benefited only a few rich people with dollars while making goods and services more expensive for poor people.
Halt the restriction of movement of food items from the North to the South: It worsens food scarcity in the South and makes it impossible for farmers in the North to sell their produce and gain revenue to buy other essentials apart from food.
Nothing for us without us: Social safety nets targeting workers in the informal economy must be disbursed through organisations of the working people themselves to avoid a few government officials stealing palliative measures designed to help the working poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
Provision of free and quality education as a right. Education should not be a commodity to make money.
Universal access to quality public health services: the health insurance schemes is not working in the informal sector because of irregular incomes to pay.
Tax the rich and reduce the large amounts paid to public officers: To stop hunger and fund social services, government officials current pay should be reduced by 50% while super rich people should be made to pay more tax to free resources to take care of social services.
Stop demolition of public spaces and work clusters where informal people work, without providing affordable alternatives.
Frances Bamidele Onokpe
President
Gbenga Komolafe
General Secretary
