Nigeria@64: Citizens groan as economic hardship worsens

 Ibrahim Quadri, Emmanuel Awari, Tunde Adeleke, Victor Duruamaku and Jacob Ogodo

 

Despite warning by Lagos State Government to the organisers of the October 1 (today)’s protest, they insisted on going ahead with the demonstration beginning from Ikeja Under Bridge.

 

The State Government had warned organisers against disrupting public order, urging them to restrict themselves to Freedom Park in Ojota and Peace Park in Ketu as ordered by a Lagos High Court in August.

 

The protest is to express disapproval of Nigerian leaders on the hardship imposed on  the citizens occasioned by the hike in petrol price and electricity tariff and the floating of the naira by President Bola Tinubu’s government.

 

According to the organisers, the #FearlessOctober1 demonstration is a continuation of the #Endbadgovernance protest, which took place from August 1 to 10.

 

They added that the latest demonstration was necessitated by the failure of the Federal Government to address their demands, which include hunger in the land, rising cost of living, insecurity, government’s wastefulness, electoral reforms, human capital development amongst others.

 

The group explained that the FCT protest would be held at the Eagle Square, the same venue of the Independence Day parade, while the Lagos protest would take place at the Ikeja Under Bridge.

 

On Sunday, human rights advocate and leader of the protest, Omoyele Sowore, said they were fully prepared for the protest, adding that they would hit the streets at 7am on the scheduled date.

 

“We are fully prepared. Our organisers are on the ground and would not be going into hiding. These are revolutionary times, Nigerians will hit the streets en mass starting from 7am on October 1,” he said.

 

In Lagos, the protest organisers plan to commence their march at the Ikeja Under Bridge at 7:30am.

 

Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), reminded organisers that the government’s stance on protest venues remains unchanged.

 

Pedro said that the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, “is not opposed to any group of residents expressing their views about any government by way of public protest as it is their fundamental right guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution”.

 

However, Pedro added that protests must align with the law, noting, “The fundamental rights to freedom of speech, association and assembly is not absolute.”

 

He stressed on Sunday that protests outside designated areas would not be tolerated to avoid criminal elements hijacking the event.

 

Organisers had announced plans to gather at Ikeja Under Bridge at 7 am to march through various streets, raising awareness about policies of the Federal Government.

 

The state police command has, however, reinforced security measures across Lagos ahead of the protests.

 

Pedro insisted that organisers should utilise designated parks, saying, “It is the same set or group of people that organised the last protest that are planning the October 1 protest, so they should be guided by the interim preservative order of injunction of court restricting public protest in the state to designated venues.”

 

Meanwhile, The Coalition of Concerned Nigeria Citizens, Osun State on Monday stated that there is no going back on the planned October 1st nationwide protest.

 

Addressing newsmen in Osogbo, the coordinator of the coalition, Adetunji Ajala, revealed that the protest tagged “National Day Of Survival” became a necessity as a result of government’s negligence of their demands.

 

 

According to him, it is very important to let the public be aware of the recent development that necessitated the Fearless protest 2.0. and the need for all to be part of this protest.

 

“The first edition of ENDBADGOVERNANCE prioritized the citizens demands from the state and federal government which led thousands of youths to flood the street.

 

“However, many of the demands were not met as the government turned a deaf ear to the demands of the citizens and continued to push the masses into hunger with unfriendly policies.

 

“The current administration does not listen to peaceful talk of addressing fuel hike price and hunger that majority of Nigerians are suffering from, which  necessitated the end bad governance  protest, the President Tinubu  led government instead of reducing the suffering  of people, have increased the price of petroleum , resulting in further increase in prices of commodities in the market, increase in shelter and accommodation and the new minimum wages is yet to be implemented in many states.

 

“Equally, we call on Osun state government to fulfil the state demands presented to her during the last endbadgovernance protest.”

 

Ajala while calling on residents of the state and the country at large to join the peaceful protest warned against individuals who have political colouration to pocket their political interest and stand for the masses till their demands are met.

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Also, The Bishop of The Crown Of Life Bible Church House of David INC. Jalingo, Rt. Rev. Dr. Innocent Rubiruku Solomon has said that the promising zeal, courage, determination and patriotic spirit of the founding fathers such as Zik, Awolowo, Sardauna and the likes were abandoned by some of succeeding leaders who chose nepotism, ethnic -religious bigotry, sectional and parochial/primordial interest rather than national interest.

 

He stated while bearing his mind on the Independence of Nigeria, (Nigeria @64) in a statement issue to DAILY CHAMPION, in Jalingo.

 

“Nigeria’s story which would have been a remarkable success story among the comity of nations today if the spirit of these founding leaders were taken into consideration and became our culture for the succeeding generation of leaders in our quest to attain the dream of a strong, powerful, united and prosperous black nation in the world today.  However, today, the country is a wasting and drowning giant that needs to be urgently rescued and I call on President Tinubu to rescue the nation while there is still time.

 

“Nigeria lacks nothing ranging from: The huge human capital, The enormous natural endowment, The huge fertile landmass, The bodies of waters with many dissecting rivers crisscrossing the country, Oil, mineral and inexhaustible deposits of wealth just to mention but few.

 

How did we get here?

He mentioned the elements which lead to Nigeria into various problems to include, Unpatriotic elements that got into national leadership and prominence without vision, passion and zeal for national development, Lack of strong and enshrined national ethos and values, Endemic and institutionalized corruption in high places of governance, Ethno -religious bigotry, Poor or lack of strategic and sustainable national integration policies and pursuits and Bad elections and electoral process.

 

Others are, Poor democratic practices in our body politics, Power mongering rather ideologically based approach, Institutional failures, System failures, Poor infrastructural development approach  as seen in our road constructions and networks, Unchecked waste in our resources management as a nation, Greed and avarice in our national life and Terrorism, armed banditry, kidnapping and heinous and unchecked dastardly acts and crime pervading the nation.

 

“The way forward, Sacrifice especially from our national and political leaders. Sacrificial leadership will be key to our national transformation.

 

“Restoring our national ethos and values in the most practicable way possible,

 

“A thorough and unbiased fight against corruption, Restoring patriotism in our national life, Transformational policies and practice in all strata of society, Stop paying lip service to our elections and electoral reforms.

 

“Genuinely and practically demonstrate that we truly want free, fair, credible and transparent elections in Nigeria.

 

“Reduce by half cost and size of governance in Nigeria, Restructure our parliamentary system into a more cost saving and impact driven system.

 

“Re -strategize and reposition our  economic policies with emphasis on youth, women and the vulnerable in the society and Reforms, Reforms and Reforms until we get it right – he said.

 

Happy Independence Nigeria. Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria – he concluded.

 

 

On his own part, the Immediate past State Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria CAN Ebonyi State Chapter, Very Reverend Father Abraham Nwali has called on Nigeria Government to consider establishment of factories and mechanized farming rather than using palliatives to service the economy .

 

He charged  them to seriously look into provision of employment opportunities for the Youths through Industrialization of every region of the Country.

 

The Country will become the most secured place to be when there is an  enabling environment for everyone to strive.

 

Nwali who gave this message in  an interview with Journalists in Abakaliki the State Capital said Nigeria has been richly blessed for the past 64 years.

 

He pointed out that the country is greatly endowed with human potentials and mineral deposit, adding that some countries have nothing and that in the next 20 years, Nigeria will be infrastructurally fit to compete with any nation.

 

He said the Country should maintain the pace of ongoing Infrastructural development as no country in the world had ever grown without fixing the infrastructure.

 

“The joy of Independence alone is something else. To be free is a gift, if you have been in custody .As a nation, we are grateful to God because we have Independence. We are highly blessed. If you travel to overseas countries, you see the potentials from Nigeria.

 

“But it will not be Fair if we don’t highlight  the lapses in the system where we failed to pay attention on time and that is number one, employment opportunities. What Nigeria needs to tackle now after infrastructure is to create an enabling environment for employment. Annually America begins to announce their employment opportunities for each year. We have no that at all”

 

“Instead of Palliatives, we should construct companies in all the regions. We should create serious mechanized farming in all the regions. We should go on Industrialization and Public Private Partnership PPP. I am sure that the population of the Country is over 300, 000,000 people, and our Youths are above 100,000,000 and over 60,000,000 are unemployed”. He explained.

 

Speaking too, the Shepherd Superintendent of the Household of God Church, Lagos, Rev Chris Okotie,has urged Nigerians to use the occasion of the nation’s 64th Independence Anniversary to reinforce their faith in God’s sure promises.

In a press release circulated in Lagos yesterday by Rev. Okotie’s  media adviser, Ladi Ayodeji, the cleric,who quoted profusely from the Bible in his main text on the story of Abraham,urged Nigerians to be hopeful always for better days as God does not abandon his people.

Below is the summary of his goodwill message:

“These are perilous times.

“Our faith in God must become the Gyrostat which keeps us afloat as we navigate the tempestuous waters of our convoluted reality. Nigeria is a client Nation for God. Nigeria has a prophetic destiny.

Therefore the sovereign superintendence of Almighty God is assured.

“Nigeria is strong. Nigeria will survive.

So Hope on. Hope ever .

Hope on. Hope ever !”

Rev Okotie has always said that Nigeria enjoys a special bond with God, and the country’s trajectory should not bother the Nigerian people.

 

As the nation celebrates it’s  64th Independence Anniversary on Tuesday,  Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, has appealed to the citizens to remain resolute in the promotion of national unity, support and prayers for the government to succeed in its efforts to turn around the country’s fortunes positively.

 

The federal government declared Tuesday, October 1st, a public holiday to commemorate the country’s 64th Independence celebration.

 

In his message to Nigerians on the country’s 64th Independence Anniversary, signed by his media aide, Ismail Mudashir, Senator Barau appealed to the promoters of the October 1 protest to shelve the idea.

 

Senator Barau, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, reiterated President Tinubu’s commitment to reviving the economy and tackling insecurity and other challenges facing the country.

 

” Fellow Nigerians, happy  Independence Day. As we celebrate the 64th Independence Anniversary – the liberty from colonial rule, we must remember the enormous sacrifices made by our founding fathers: Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, among others, and recommit ourselves to the ideals they preached including the promotion of national unity, peace, justice and tolerance.

 

” Yes, at 64, we face some challenges as a country, but we will overcome them by God’s grace. We will come out stronger. Let’s continue to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in actualising his policies and programmes. He has good intentions for the country. We will get it right, ” he said.

 

Under the able leadership of Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, the President of the Senate, he said the parliament would continue to work for good governance and support the executive with the necessary legislation to actualise its programmes and policies.

 

Coming from the retreat of the Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution held in Kano over the weekend; he said the committee under his chairmanship was working hard to amend the nation’s constitution to meet the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians.

 

He commended President Tinubu for the appointment of the members of the Governing Board of the North West Development Commission (NWDC) for the take-off of the commission, saying this is a further confirmation of the president’s commitment to tackle the challenges facing the North West geopolitical zone.

 

“Together, we can forge a more robust and inclusive constitutional framework for our beloved nation, Nigeria, as we seek to build a brighter future for all our citizens,” he said.