A lot of people may not realise it, but this story is effing huge. It changes EVERYTHING in our democracy.

Nigerians finally allowed to protest at National Assembly

[img]http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg&STREAMOID=sFtypTztA26xCLM42Ysopi6SYeqqxXXqBcOgKOfTXxRkWcPdCrt4PJv5nZWHugLznW_PgxgftuECOcfJwS6Jtlp$r8Fy$6AAZ9zyPuHJ25T7a9GKDSxsGxtpmxP0VAUyHL6IDcZHtmM2t7xO$FHdJG95dFi6y2Uma3vSsvPpVyo-[/img]

The management of the National Assembly last week granted permission to organised labour and other civil society groups to use the ground to protest against the proposed deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

This is the first time, in over 10 years, since the return of democracy that the ground will be used for its original purpose.

The groups which staged the protest included the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, and the Labour and Civil Society Coalition.

They were addressed at the park by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Wilson Ake, and his Federal Character counterpart, Smart Adeyemi.

It was the first time that the arcade would be used by Nigerians to protest against any government policy since 1999 when the National Assembly Complex was commissioned by the former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar.

On that day, October 29, the management of the National Assembly engaged the services of the Federal Road Safety Commission and other relevant organisations to clear a large portion of the arcade to allow for easy use.

They directed vehicle owners to park in other parts of the park leaving a wide space on the ground for protests, in line with the original concept of the arcade.

NEXT had in April this year reported that federal lawmakers and staff of the National Assembly had turned the space into a car park, thereby denying Nigerians use of it.

The Sergeant-at-Arms of the National Assembly, Emma Okere, a retired colonel, said then that members of the public were not allowed to use the expansive arcade because of noticeable breaches by demonstrators. . .