The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) as described yesterday’s bomb blasts that left 72 people dead (according to official figures) in Nigeria’s capital city as unacceptable.

The union in a statement issued in Abuja by its President Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar declared that the rush hour attack at Nyanya Bus Stop, Abuja, “which left scores dead, especially workers, is as barbaric as it is condemnable.”

Continuing, the union said: “It is a sore reminder that the battle against terror is far from over. It is also a reminder that there are no safe havens.

“While our hearts go to the victims and their families, we as citizens must be vigilant and resolute at all times. We must stand together as one family united by grief and threat to our collective well-being.

“Every bomb that goes off takes something away from us, yet we will never surrender. We will defeat this enemy with our collective resolve and focus.

“Government needs to do more to reassure Nigerians about their safety as it takes more than regular effort to confront an enemy as resourceful as this.

“In the past three years a sizable percentage of our national budget has been devoted to security. This should translate into better infrastructure, training and incentive for our personnel and not slush funds for dark interests.

“Our roads oftentimes are turned into a nightmare in the quest by our security personnel to apprehend terror suspects or frustrate their plans through the doctrine of pre-emption, yet it is doubtful if these personnel are sufficiently equipped for their tasks. More often than not it is guess work or application of psychology, yet the cold realities of our situation certainly require more than this.

“Government must tackle this terror through confrontation and through the depletion of their ranks via provision of education and jobs.

“We also call for the full and immediate implementation of the reports of the two committees set up by the Federal Government on Boko Haram. They made profound recommendations including the prosecution of those believed to have started the crisis.

“This great country cannot live in a perpetual state of terror.”

•Photo shows NLC President Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar.

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