There has been some form of apprehension over the planned hunger and hardship protest scheduled to commence August 1, 2024 across the country. The protest is billed to end August 10. While efforts are being made to douse tension and stop the protest, security agencies have placed their personnel on alert.
The reason for this apprehension is not far-fetched. In 2020, spontaneous protests erupted against the brutality of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police in different parts of the country. It was tagged #EndSARS protest. Initially, the protest was peaceful until some hoodlums hijacked it and started vandalizing some public and private facilities, including police stations. Scores of people were killed.
Similarly, youths in Kenya recently trooped to the streets to protest against the finance bill which the government of William Ruto tried to impose on the nation. The bill, which has been cancelled, aimed at increasing the tax obligations of the citizens. Despite the attempts to suppress the protests by security agents, the youths were resolute in their demands. A number of them were killed.
Poverty and hunger have combined to make many of our youths restive. Some of them graduated from higher institutions without any job to take care of their basic needs. Even many of those who are working can hardly make ends meet. They have continued to live from hand to mouth while the majority of others don’t even know where the next meal will come from. This has pushed many of these youths into crime.
The worst is that some government officials live as if nothing is amiss. They live ostentatious lifestyle, moving in convoy of exotic cars and revelling in mundane things that add little or no value to the sustenance of our democracy and improvement in our economy.
It is quite sad that rather than looking for ways to appease the angry citizens, some government officials found it more expedient to fly ethnic and treason kites. The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, alleged that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi, and his supporters were behind the planned protest. He made reference to the 2020 EndSARS protest vandalism and concluded that the masterminds of the protests were anarchists and bad losers who sought to destabilise the country through a civilian coup.
This is unfortunate coming from one of the spokesmen of the President. Protest is a form of expressing opinion about how the country is being governed. During the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan, there were protests against fuel price hike. On June 12, 2024, there were protests in some states and Abuja over the economic hardship and insecurity in the country. Recently, there were hunger protests in such states as Kano, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, and Rivers. It is erroneous, therefore, to state that the looming protest amounts to unseating the government.
President Bola Tinubu understands the right of the citizens to embark on peaceful protest to register their displeasure over certain developments in the country. In his days as a leading opposition party figure in the country, he took part in such protests. He has urged the youths to sheathe their swords and that his government is doing everything possible to ameliorate the plight of the citizens.
Tinubu has held meetings with traditional rulers, security chiefs and some other stakeholders in order to douse tension and stop the looming protest. This is how it should be. We are not under military dictatorship and citizens who feel aggrieved over certain issues should be allowed to air their views as long as it is peaceful.
We join well meaning Nigerians to urge the Nigerian youths to suspend their planned protests and give government chance to work things out. We appreciate the enormity of the challenges many of them face. Unemployment is high. As of June 2024, headline inflation rate was 34.19 per cent. Food inflation rate was 40.87 per cent, as prices of essential food items rise almost on a weekly basis.
While we urge the youths to show understanding, we advise security agents to be professional in the discharge of their duties. They should focus more on protecting critical national assets from hoodlums who may want to catch in on the protest to foment trouble. The situation we are in now calls for introspection rather than blame game or actions that will inflame more passions. The patience of Nigerians has grown very thin. It is time government reassures them that it cares for the citizens by addressing the high cost of living. Government should be honest with the people.