Some of the traders and transporters in Sango-Ota, Ogun on Wednesday defied the protest led by Organised Labour as they carried on with their business activities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) organised the protest to force the hands of government.
They have asked government to revert the high pump price following its removal of fuel subsidy.
A correspondent of NAN, who monitored developments at the toll-gate area and Sango-Ota market, observed that the traders went on with their buying and selling of commodities.
NAN also reports that commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists were seen conveying passengers from one location to another in spite of the national protest by organised labour.
Most shops around Sango-Ota were seen opening for business activities, while the yellow buses were also observed picking passengers at various bus stops.
Alhaji Kudurat Lawal, a trader at Sango-Ota, said that without coming to the market to sell there was no means of providing and catering for their families.
Lawal said that the recent hardship in the country would not warrant them to stay at home because they needed to feed their families.
“The Federal Government needed to come to the aid of Nigerians by urgently providing palliatives that would get to the poor masses,” she said.
Mr Bayo Ojerinde, a commercial tricyclist at toll-gate in Sango-Ota, said that Nigerians were going through hard times due to the fuel subsidy removal.
Ojerinde said that after buying fuel and paying the necessary fees at the motor-park, he was left with little to cater for his family.
“I believe that government needs to come to our assistance by talking to heads of motor parks to reduce daily fees paid, and also provide some palliatives for the transporters,” he said.
Mr Deji Okeowo, a civil servant at Alausa in Ikeja, described the current situation of things in the country as unbearable because Nigerians were going through difficult times.
Okeowo said that transport fares and cost of goods had gone up due to the petrol subsidy removal.
He added that the salary of most civil servants could no longer take them home, not to talk of sustaining their families.
Okeowo said that some families now live from hand to mouth, adding that the Federal Government needs to expedite action on putting palliatives in place to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians
(NAN)
