NIGERIA: If the planned nationwide protest takes effect as planned, it means for 10 days, starting from August 1, 2024, there will be uncertainties as Nigeria may likely be grounded by the hungry and angry citizens, no matter how peaceful the protest goes.
The Federal Government and many other agencies of government have spared no energy to ensure that the impending protest does not materialism, reports BusinessDay.
For some days now, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been holding high-level meetings and consultations with some eminent Nigerians and stakeholders to avert the #EndBadGovernance protest.
The government fears that if not stopped, the protest will impact the country worse than the #EndSAARS protest.
In solidarity with the government, some groups have distanced themselves from the protest, describing it as untimely and politically-sponsored.
But the reality on ground, according to many concerned Nigerians, cannot be denied as the country bleeds from all angles and the citizens are just walking corpses due to the untold and increasing hardship under the present administration.
From sachet water, cheap noodles, and even ‘garri’, people now pay more to get less of these items.
“We bought bags of sachet water at N150 each to quench our thirst while on solidarity rally on Workers’ Day last year in Abuja, but same is N400 per bag now and a paint bucket of garri is now N3500 from N1500 before May 29th presidential inauguration,” Etinosa Eromosele, a consultant surgeon in a private hospital in Abuja, lamented.
Lamenting further, the medical consultant said, “So, what will the poor do if the cheapest things are now out of hand, especially food. Many are dieing every day for lack of money to buy even the cheapest malaria drug. Please ask the government that said people should not protest when common ‘pure water’ is no longer affordable, yet it will do nothing to alleviate their suffering. They are boasting of N70,000 minimum wage that cannot solve any problem.”
For Bidemi Balogun, a banker in Lagos, the high cost of living makes any salary increment meaningless.
“Even if you are being paid N5 million every month, the hardship will consume it because house rent, children school fees, home upkeep, car maintenance, security fees and even money dashed to people to run errands for you have more than doubled in the last one year,” the banker said.
He commended some companies, like his, that have reviewed staff salaries and allowances with good percentages. But the reality, according to him, is that prices are increasing every day to make the new salaries meaningless, while employers cannot afford to increase salaries every six months to match the soaring cost of living.
Also, the numbers are not giving hope to the poor masses.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Nigeria’s inflation hit a new 28-year high of 34.19 percent in annual terms in June 2024, from 33.95 percent in May, signaling more trouble ahead.
As well, food inflation is soaring every day, leaving many families hungry.
According to the NBS, on a month-on-month basis, food inflation rate in July 2023 was 3.45 percent, about 1.06 percent higher compared to the rate recorded in June 2023, which was 2.40 percent, but the rate of increase today, a year after, is unimaginably and the reason food is now out of the reach of many.
Considering the above, Mike Onyechere, an Abuja-based human right lawyer, is more concerned that the government is not sincere in handling the situation, rather always putting up defence and urging for patience and more time.
“For how long will the poor be patient while politicians live large. We see all of them enjoying and telling us to tight our belts. That is the height of injustice if I may say.
“If this government is cutting down on luxury spending, unnecessary foreign trips, high cost of refurbishing their living quarters, huge sums allocated to themselves through budget padding and preference of Dollars to Naira as cash gift to their cronies, Nigerians will understand, but they are very insensitive to the plight of the masses, who have every reason to protest the poor governance and corruption of this administration,” Onyechere said.
Hannah Oni, an assistant director in a Federal Government parastatal, whose daughter schools in Atlanta, USA, decried that the medical student is at the mercy of the school because she has failed to meet her financial obligations twice due to the unimaginably exchange rate.
“The foreign students aid office is helping her for now. I have registered her immediate junior at the University of Abuja because I cannot afford to train two children abroad. My husband is polygamous and do not care about us,” she cried out.
She also noted that some Nigerian students abroad, according to her daughter, are abandoning their education because of the inability of their parents or sponsors to fund them again.
Even in Nigeria, many parents who could not afford to send their children to foreign universities are now withdrawing them from private ones to public institutions due to the huge amount charged by the business, but not quality-minded operators of the private schools as most people believe.
With the increasing suffering in the land, no respite in sight, government’s efforts not yielding expected results yet, and sadly, the luxurious lifestyle of government appointees in this time of lack, that seems to mock the poor, supporters of the #EndBadGovernanceProtest are insisting that the protest must hold.
The above are enough reasons to ask for better government and good life for the people of Nigeria, according to Northern Voices for Justice (NVJ), which has called on men, women and youths in the 19 northern states of Nigeria to join the protest.
“The unbearable cost of living, soaring food prices, and lack of subsidies on essential services have pushed many families to the brink of starvation and despair,” Sani Saeed Altukry, convener of NVJ said.
“This is an urgent call to action, an emergency response to the injustices and hardships imposed on us by an indifferent and corrupt administration.”
He also Insisted that to protest against poor governance is a constitutional right of the citizens.
In the same vein, Onyechere, a human right lawyer, noted that the wish of the citizens to protest is not only justified but are also protected by the Nigerian Constitution.
“The Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to assemble freely and protest.
“So, those who want to stop the protest are working against the interest of the constitution, democracy and freedom because the citizens have the right to exercise constitutional right, demand justice and accountability from those in power, by any means apart from violence,” the lawyer explained.
For the Ayo Adebanjo-led faction of Afenifere, pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, which threw its weight behind the upcoming protest, the mass action is an organic reaction to the government’s failed economic policies.
According to Justice Faloye, its publicity secretary, Afenifere had previously lamented the economic policies of the Tinubu administration.
“Afenifere is not planning to be a part of the protest, but we support anybody who wants to express their fundamental human rights. And because we, in Afenifere, have been warning about the economic policies – that if it continues, ‘if you continue with the (removal of) subsidies and high inflation’, there is no way you can stop people, you cannot tell a hungry man to wait,” he explained.
From the government side, and referencing the #EndSAARSProtest, the fear is the hoodlums will take advantage of it to cause mayhem that will undermine the essence of the protest, hence the sustained call for boycott.
George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Nuhu Ribadu, National Security Adviser, after a closed-door meeting with ministers regarding the protests, urged the youth to give the government more time to address economic concerns rather than proceeding with the protest.
Acknowledging the role of protests in a democracy, Heineken Lokpobiri,
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who appealed to youth in Niger Delta region to remain calm and shun the planned protest against economic hardship in the country, warned against those who might exploit it for malicious purposes.
“Certain groups are looking to use this protest to incite violence and crime. We must not let non-state-actors disrupt our peace and stability,” he cautioned.
Adediran Onabule, a constitutional lawyer is also of the view that protest will not solve the problem.
“I know that to protest is your democratic right, but there are broader implications on our national stability and progress. I think that sponsors of the protest should consider dialogue and collaboration,” the lawyer said.
He also noted that some government appointees and politicians, especially those who have never visited their constituencies after winning elections in 2023, are now calling on people to boycott the protests, some pundits have observed.
“I am from Sagbama in Bayelsa State, and so, a full-fledged Niger Deltan. Heineken Lokpobiri is calling for constructive engagement and dialogue, and that is what the government has done with Boko Haram, herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers, yet terrorists are on rampage. The dialogue has never worked. What Nigerians want now is solutions and not excuses after one year.
“Before Tinubu became president, he supported protests against the government, he should face the realities now in Aso Rock. What goes around, comes around.
There is no preaching than to fix the economy, and save the poor from dieing. The hardship is worse in Niger Delta now because our soil cannot produce crops, visitors are stealing our oil, government is pointing at us, and soldiers are intimidating our people,” Preye Ibiwari, a University Port Harcourt lecturer, said.
Though the calls for boycotting the protest are increasing, with some socio-cultural groups, like the Arewa Youth Assembly, the Reuben Fasoranti-led Afenifere, and others distancing themselves from it, even political groups like the South-East Governors’ Forum, majority of the citizenry seem ready to hit the road on August 1, 2024 as long as there will be no violence.
For Faloye of the Adebanjo-led faction of the Afenifere, there is no need to fear.
“We don’t believe that people will come out and start burning. We have seen years and years of protests, and we realise that it becomes violent when the government tries to stop it,” he said.
Meanwhile, many are calling on security operatives to maintain law and order during the protest to avert anarchy, which will warrant the government to use force.
They argued that a government that usually romance the electorates during election period, should also allow them to express their dissatisfaction with its policies or poor governance.
But most supporters of the protest have been assuring that it will be peaceful across the country, considering some measure being put in place to ensure that.
“To ensure the safety and integrity of our protests, we have arranged for bouncers who will be present across all 19 Northern States to prevent any form of infiltration by hoodlums or disruptive elements. This is a peaceful protest, and we will maintain the highest standards of conduct,” the NVJ convener assured.
Faloye is of the view that the protest will be peaceful if the government did not hijack it.
“In most cases, it is not the protesters that usually stoke violence; it is the government or political thugs that make protests to turn violent,” Faloye said.
Despite the warning, threats and appeal by the government, many citizens have said that they would not step out of their residences on August 1. Many are currently making plans to stockpile food to avoid “had I known.”
But a big question remains if the government will be moved to take drastic action, whether the protest holds or not, considering its sustained call for more time and defensive approaches to its lapses.
