The protest, which started at 8 a.m. on Monday, was tagged "Let the poor breathe" by the organisers.
A coalition of organised labour and civil society organisations on Monday protested in the Osun State capital city of Osogbo over the economic hardship in Nigeria arising from the removal of fuel subsidy by the Nigerian government.
The protest, which started at 8 a.m. on Monday, was tagged "Let the poor breathe" by the organisers. The coalition was led by Waheed Lawal and took off from the popular Ayetoro Junction in Osogbo.
According to the protesters, the government must find solutions urgently to the economic hardship, commercialisation of education, non-provision of palliatives, fuel subsidy removal, hike in electricity tariff and growing insecurity.
The protesters waved placards with different messages as they marched to important locations in the state capital.
One of the banners read: "Mr President, you're suffocating the poor" while another had the inscription: "Let the poor breathe".
On July 20, the coalition had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government to roll out palliative measures to cushion the consequences of the removal of fuel subsidy.
At a press conference in Osogbo, Mr Lawal denounced the endless promises by the state government without action to match them.
"We wish to state that while we demand a speedy response from the federal government on the roll-out of palliative to cushion the effect of the removal of subsidy and biting economic reality, we also demand that the Osun State government go beyond empathy and promises to rolling out measures to make life liveable for the people as several other states of the federation have done.
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"Without intention to threaten, we want to state categorically that failure for the issues raised above to be looked into between now and the next one week, and the needful done, we shall be leading the mass of the people out on the street for a protest and nothing shall deter us till we achieve victory since that seems to be one language that the government understands," he added.
Meanwhile, the president of the Osun Coalition of Youth Voice Movement, Oluwaseun Adebisi, cautioned youth in the state to avoid participating in politically influenced protests.
In a statement released to the media on Sunday, Mr Adebisi said his group would not participate in any protest.
"This is to inform the general public, especially the Osun youths under the umbrella of CYVM that we are not in support of any group sponsoring protest that can cause any unrest in the society.
However, he called on the federal government to take appropriate action in resolving the current hardship in the country.
