August protests and Asiwaju’s offer of dialogue, by Yahya Salih Bayero
Story from Yahya Salih Bayero
On the 1st of August, 2024, Nigerians from all walks of life embarked on a nationwide protest tagged #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria.
The protests, which were planned to last for 10 days, attracted a significant number of participants from various states across the country. It is noteworthy that the protests came after more than a month of prior warning and against a backdrop of serious discouragement from various elite groups, most notably the clergy and political officeholders. These elite groups cited various reasons why protesting at this time was a bad idea; including a lack of leadership among the protesters and a lack of clear demands from them.
However, this did not deter the protests, and it may even have sparked a serious backlash from the protesting groups, further fueling the protests.
Several days into the protests now, the issue of leadership remains pertinent, and the question still remains: What exactly are the protests aimed at achieving? On this, there hasn’t been unity amongst the protesters; as some demand an end to bad governance, others demand the resignation of the president, and others still, have been seen carrying Russian flags around for reasons best known to them. Several social media videos show young protesters from the north chanting “Mu soja muke so,” which translates to “We want a military rule.”
The alarming number of young people in Nigeria who were seen calling for military rule indicates a lack of belief in democracy.
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Ironically, it was just a couple of months ago that the president and his elite friends gathered in Abuja to celebrate 25 years of democracy and eulogize each other for the role they played in its attainment. Sadly, the masses do not share those sentiments, and who will blame them?
The conduct of the protests themselves are worrying. While we saw peaceful protests in some states, there was violence in others. There was looting of private homes and businesses in Kaduna and Kano as well as vandalization of public property, not to mention the clashes between security forces and the protesters, which led to the unfortunate loss of lives.
On the other hand, the protests have recorded some achievements; they have brought some pertinent issues to the fore of the Nigerian media space and have inspired discussions and debates. It has brought to light the level of frustration the Nigerian commoner is in due to the multi-dimensional poverty and hunger caused largely by the policies of the current administration. It has also showcased the level of illiteracy we are grappling with because some of the protesters’ actions can only be explained by illiteracy. This sadly is predominantly in the north, where the protests have been the most violent.
The protests also shone light on the ever-widening gap between the ruling class and the commoners. The total disregard for the government’s, clerics, and traditional rulers’ prior appeals to shelve the planned protests serves as evidence of this. The numerous calls seemed to have no effect on the people. The commoner believes that the government is the cause of all his problems, and nothing can persuade him otherwise.
This unfortunately isn’t far from the truth considering the level of neglect the critical sectors of education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation have received over the years.
Education, in particular, needs to be given much attention to before things get out of hand. It is reported that about 10.5 million children aged 6-11 years in Nigeria do not attend school. This translates to 1 out of 5 of all the out of school children across the globe. This has been allowed to fester for long , and it begs the question: Do the governments even care about tackling this issue? Are they unaware of the potential consequences, which are already manifesting in the form of Boko Haram, Banditry, and other security challenges we are currently grappling with?
In the 21st century, no nation can truly progress without maximizing the productivity of its citizens, and Nigeria, being Africa’s biggest population, has citizens in abundance. Sadly, though, very few of which are productive enough to propel this country to where it belongs. This is because of lack of proper education, even the educated ones are often found to be unemployable, because the education available is not up to par with global standards of this time and age.
There are also no adequate means of engaging the youth by governments. No jobs and no enabling environments for ideas and businesses to thrive. We are sitting on a time bomb that is well near its explosion, May God save us all when it does.
Then comes the presidents speech after three days of protests amidst a high level of suspense, hope, and expectations from Nigerians; and to say the speech was uninspiring is putting it mildly. The president, in his magnanimity, acknowledged the sufferings of Nigerians and reiterated why he believes the two major policies on Fuel Subsidy Removal and Floating of the Naira had to be done.
He also went ahead to tell us the efforts being made to alleviate the sufferings of the Nigerian masses. Notable of such efforts are the distribution of 20 trucks of rice to each state of the federation (even though some governors have publicly denied receiving such rice), the initiation of a student loan scheme, and a few other interventions including a total amount of 570 billion given to governors to cushion the effects of these policy decisions in their respective states. All of these, however, did not deter the protesters, as the protests intensified the very next day after the protests.
The president also urged the protesters to embrace dialogue, stating that his doors are always open for meaningful dialogue. For me, this is the biggest takeaway from the speech, and the protesters should endeavour to take on that offer.
The call for dialogue presents an opportunity to demand some tangible concessions from Mr. President. However, a problem persists; once again, the question of leadership emerges: who will advocate for the protesters and represent their true interests, given that the leaders of the protests have largely remained in the background, particularly in northern Nigeria, where there hasn’t been any high-profile individual or group that joined the protest or presented himself as a leader.
While protests in the south-west, south-south, and north central regions have benefited from strong leadership, resulting in clear demands and more organized and peaceful protests, this is not the case in the north, where the protests have largely been violent and lacking in coordination.
In order to take on the president’s offer for dialogue, it is important for the protesters, especially from the north, to nominate people who can represent their interests. These individuals should not currently be part of the government and should possess the necessary knowledge, experience, and integrity to make honest demands that will steer the northern region and the country towards sustainable growth.
They should also know that whatever they demand will be worthless if they do not demand a full investigation into the killings of people in Kaduna, Kano and Borno states by the Military and the police forces during the protests. This should be a starting point because if they let this slide, then human life will continue to be worthless in Nigeria. The sanctity of human lives should come ahead of everything.
Other demands should focus on taking immediate measures to tackle the hunger and poverty in the land, giving a few trucks of rice to governors won’t cut it; Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world where about 70 million people are living in extreme poverty i.e below the poverty line which is $2.15 per day.
Let me give a context here, $2.15 was officially about N903 before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in. With the floating of the Naira, this same $2.15 is now roughly N3440. So automatically, anyone living on less than N3440 daily is now below the poverty line. This will give you an impression of the magnitude of just this one policy decision.
The point being, Nigerians are poorer than ever, and there’s barely anything put in place by the government to alleviate the situation in the first place. This is what triggered the protests, not politics. People are hungry and frustrated, and they demonstrate that.
I would appeal to the protesters especially from the north, to consider the opportunity of dialogue a win, and they should come together and form a proper leadership structure as well as outline clear demands from the government, and then take Mr Presidents offer of dialogue, hopefully something tangible will come from it.
They should also persevere and remain relentless in their struggle for better lives and know that change doesn’t happen overnight, but it will eventually happen if the needed work is done. They should also know that democracy, though not ideal, is the best option we have, and Nigeria is the only country we have. We CANNOT give up on Nigeria.
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