Stakeholders have knocked President Bola Tinubu over his failure to address key demands of the EndBadGovernance protesters in his nationwide broadcast on Sunday.
Tinubu had on Sunday waded into the issues emanating from the ongoing nationwide protests against hunger and high cost of living in Nigeria.
DAILY POST reports that Nigerian youths who are irked by the unfavourable prevailing economic conditions in the country are in the streets across the nation demanding solutions to the hardship.
The action, which commenced on August 1 and expected to last for ten days, is aimed at drawing the attention of the government to the hardship bedeviling citizens.
The protests in Kano, Borno, Yobe, Kaduna, Gombe, Bauchi, FCT, Niger and Jigawa, turned bloody with scores of unsuspecting citizens killed, while an unspecified number of persons were critically injured.
Although different reports from states suggested that about 19 persons paid the supreme price during the first day of the protest, Amnesty International claimed that 13 persons were killed.
In some states, hoodlums vandalized and looted properties belonging to both the government and private individuals.
In a quest to quell further breakdown of law and order in the country, President Tinubu on Sunday addressed Nigerians on the matter, appealing to the aggrieved Nigerian youths to rather embrace dialogue.
In his speech, Tinubu who commiserated with victims’ families over the death of their loved ones, called on the protesters to suspend the exercise.
Reeling out steps taken by the government to address the hunger crisis, Tinubu said about N570bn has been released to states for livelihoods support.
The president also pointed out that 600,000 nano businesses have so far benefitted from the nano grants, stating that additional 400,000 businesses would still benefit.
Although the president vehemently rejected the call for reinstatement of fuel subsidy, he noted that the Compress Natural Gas, CNG, initiative was to reduce transport cost by 60%, assuring that about one million conversion kits would be distributed at little or no cost.
Tinubu failed to address key demands
DAILY POST reports that among other things, the organizers of the protest had asked the FG to “Toss the Senate arm of the Nigerian legislative system. Keep the House of Representatives and make lawmaking a part-time endeavour.
“Pay Nigerian workers a minimum wage of nothing less than N250,000 monthly.
“Release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally and demilitarize the South East. All EndSARS and political detainees must also be released and compensated.
“End banditry, terrorism and violent crimes. Reform security agencies to stop continuous human rights violations.
“Massive shake-ups in the Nigerian judiciary to remove cabals of corrupt generations of judges and judicial officers that continue denying citizens access to real justice.
“Diaspora voting.
“Probe past and present Nigerian leaders, who have looted the treasury, recover their loot and deposit it in a special account to fund education, healthcare and infrastructure”.
According to stakeholders, who spoke to DAILY POST on Sunday, President Tinubu’s speech failed to address those demands.
We expect Tinubu to address issues of insecurity in North, cutting cost of governance – Area Youths
President General of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, Yerima Shettima told DAILY POST on Sunday that Tinubu failed to address the security crisis in the North.
Shettima also expressed disappointment in the president for ignoring the call for his administration to cut the cost of governance in the country.
He said, “there is an outcry everywhere that Nigerians expected more from the president.
“For me, there are two angles to it from the north here. If there is anything he has not touched, it is the fact that he would have looked at what is the specific challenge of the Northerners.
“What is our problem? Our problem is the issue of insecurity. I would have wanted him to declare a state of emergency on insecurity, especially in the northern part of the country.
“He can even be specific by mentioning at least five states in the North. States like Niger, Kaduna, Zamfara, Borno and probably Katsina State. Declare a state of emergency and let us see that you are hard on this issue. Declare a state of emergency and put the security chiefs on their feet.
“Give them some months to bring lasting solutions to the problems. This is what we expected from the president and this is where I can say that he has not done enough”.
Shettima, however, backed the president in his position on fuel subsidy, saying “even Tinubu himself can’t bring back this subsidy that people are crying about everywhere. It is not possible. This is a global problem.
“Even as things are, and from the analysis we have gathered, Nigerians were supposed to pay more than N1000 for a liter but the president went far to overstretch the government and gave subsidy behind the knowledge of so many Nigerians”.
Shettima blamed the immediate past administration led by former president, Muhammadu Buhari for the current economic reality.
According to him, “It was the last government that put us into this mess. They went out of the way and acquired so much money that they can’t even account for it.
“I am shocked to see that none of those ministers that squandered our money has been brought books.
“For me, Tinubu has communicated. Some of us know that there are certain policies that have been put on ground. The policies may likely not have impacted positively at the moment, but gradually, those things will come to pass.
“Yes we all can feel the heat but we shouldn’t be in a hurry. We are suffering. Look at the size of the government. Tinubu failed to address the demands that he should cut the cost of governance”.
Tinubu’s speech only contains grammar, no actionable solutions – Peter Obi’s spokesman
Yunusa Tanko, spokesman to the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election, Mr Peter Obi, told DAILY POST that President Tinubu failed to address issues raised by the angry Nigerian youths.
According to Tanko, Tinubu failed to show Nigerians actionable solutions to the prevailing economic hardship ravaging the nation.
He said, “I don’t think he has addressed the issues raised by the protesters. President Tinubu ought to have responded to each and every demand that is already made in the fliers.
“For example, the issue of price of petroleum, bringing it down from N850 to at least N200.
“This is the major thing that is affecting every aspect of the economy across the country.
“Or he talks about how to bring the cost of commodities down to appreciable levels or he even ought to have talked about how to secure the lives and properties with practical examples.
“He should have also talked about how to enhance the production of agricultural products, especially in northern Nigeria where we have land and even the issue of the protest is even more severe.
“People want to hear him say something like ‘we are bringing in tractors, fertilizers, seedlings and everything needed so that people can return to their farm’. These are practical examples that you can show to make people believe that you are dealing with this matter not to continue to speak grammar with no actionable solutions to the problems. I don’t think he has addressed the issues to be honest”.
EndBadGovernance: I was shocked by Tinubu’s broadcast – Dele Momodu
In a similar vein, the publisher of Ovation Magazine, Dele Momodu, knocked the president over the broadcast, saying he was left shocked by the content of the speech.
In a post on his X handle shortly after the speech, Momodu said the president totally failed to address the demands of the protesters.
He said, “After the long-awaited speech of President Bola Tinubu eventually came this morning, I’m sure most of you would be as stupefied as me.
“I must confess that I had little hope of Tinubu granting some concessions to the aggrieved Nigerians. As a man who has held an iron grip on Lagos State for the last 25 years, it would be difficult for him to change a winning formula that has worked for him ever since.
“Also, what did we expect his advisers to be telling him when most of them have been his most fanatical cronies from Lagos who have learnt never to challenge the master?
“So it was merely wishful thinking on the part of incurable optimists like me to think he was going to have mercy on hapless and seemingly helpless Nigerians.”
On his part, Comrade Jare Ajayi, the National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere told DAILY POST that the organization is currently studying the speech and would make its position known to the public soon.
Protest continues – Organizers threaten to extend demonstration beyond ten days
Despite President Tinubu’s appeal and concerns raised by security agencies, organizers of the EndBadGovernance protests have vowed to continue the exercise across the country.
In a chat with DAILY POST on Sunday, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress in the 2023 election, Omoleye Sowore said, “Protest continues tomorrow”.
Sowore, who is unsatisfied with President Tinubu’s broadcast, threatened that if the demands of the protesters were not met after ten days of the protest, the exercise may continue indefinitely.
Asked when the protest would end, Sowore simply said “In 10 days, but it would continue if the issues on the charter of demands are not adhered to”.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military on Saturday said it will intervene if violence recorded in some states in the ongoing nationwide protest escalates.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, during a press conference in Abuja, said the military would step in to control the looting and violence being witnessed in some parts of the country.
The CDS noted that while he was aware of the “grievances” of the protesters on the challenging economic difficulties in the country, they must show understanding.
He appealed to Nigerians to be united during “these trying times” and cautioned against looting and vandalization of property.
The defence chief decried the destruction of valuables during the nationwide protests, describing it as “crazy.”