Protesters’ grievances must be addressed
It is an irony that President Bola Tinubu is asking peeved Nigerians to give him “more time” to fix the economy. He is asking the people to give him what he denied himself when he took the reins of power on May 29, 2023.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari had gamely made financial provisions for the continuation of petrol subsidy payment for a whole month to enable his successor study the situation before taking necessary measures. But Tinubu blew that opportunity at the inauguration ground, denying himself the valuable period of grace or “honeymoon” that every new leader needs to adjust in power.
Nigerians started hurting from his draconian economic measures from Day One. They have endured 14 months of extreme hunger, hardship, poverty and insecurity, yet, there is no clear pathway out. If anything, Nigerians see their leaders living above the current means of the nation and insulating themselves from the horrendous experiences the people face daily.
The Federal Government’s preparations to contain the protests are not helping matters. Apart from allowing some of its hirelings to engage in ethnic profiling of some Nigerians, the past week has witnessed unusual up-ticks of activities in the Federal Capital, Abuja. All sorts of groups – governors, politicians, traditional and religious leaders and hitherto-unknown faceless groups – have been mobilised in the manner of the “fake bishops” saga, to disown the protests.
All the forces of coercion – the Police, Army and Directorate of State Security Services, DSS – have come out to issue intimidatory statements threatening the protesters. Only government knows how much it has spent in all these mobilisations.
We advise the government to tone down on these propaganda/scare tactics and focus quality attention on constructive engagements. The triggers for these protests – hunger, starvation, danger to lives and property – touch directly on the existence of the citizens. These are much more life-threatening than the precursors of the #EndSARS protests – police brutality.
People have been pushed to the wall and have nowhere else to go. Responding to them with intimidation means government learnt nothing from the crises of killings, looting and destruction that followed the use of the Army and hired hoodlums to tackle the #EndSARS protesters. There is no knowing how people will respond to it.
Government must take visionary measures that will reassure the people. These include drastic reduction of the size of government, removal of all obstacles in the oil sector and offering relief for the full operation of all refineries, arresting and ruthlessly dealing with the “oil mafia”, partnering with the people to chase out armed terrorists and bandits preventing people from accessing the farms, offering substantial bailouts to manufacturers and refraining from ethnic profiling of Nigerians.
Nigerians will listen once they see that their leaders are getting serious with governance.
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