Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, has revealed that more than 30 million phone lines are at risk of disconnection due to improper linkage with a National Identification Number (NIN).
These lines are primarily associated with devices like car trackers, MiFi units, WiFi devices, and Point of Sale (POS) machines.
“The numbers are staggering. We are looking at potentially over 30 million SIM cards, including those in various digital devices, that have not been properly linked to the NIN. Many of these SIMs are in car trackers, POS machines, MiFis, WiFis, and many other devices that use SIMs to operate,” Adebayo stated during an interview with News Central, as reported on Thursday.
This situation follows recent disruptions caused by the blocking of lines not connected to their NINs.
Naija News recalls that last weekend, telecommunications companies began disconnecting lines not linked with NINs, just ahead of the Nigerian Communications Commission’s July 31, 2024 deadline.
Ever since February 2024, telecom operators have been gradually disconnecting lines, adhering to an NCC directive. At the end of 2023, the regulator instructed telcos to disconnect unlinked lines in phases, concluding on July 31, 2024.
Adebayo explained that these disconnections resulted from discrepancies between telecom operators’ records and the National Identity Management Commission’s data.
“There are cases where individuals provided their NINs, but the information did not align with our records,” he said. “These discrepancies need to be resolved at service centers for proper verification.”
Adebayo clarified that the timing of the disconnections coincided with national protests but was unrelated, as the disconnection process had started earlier.
“Unfortunately, the disconnection coincided with the planned protests, but it had nothing to do with stifling communication.
“We are guided by our social contract with subscribers and provide services on a non-discriminatory basis,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of accurate data for building a reliable national database, urging individuals to provide truthful and consistent information during registration to prevent future issues.
“To have a reliable and equipped national database, all of us must contribute accurate information,” Adebayo urged.
“This database can only be as reliable as the information provided by the public.
“The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend… Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM,” he added
![[PRESS RELEASE] Olaopa Lists Ways To Make HR Practice Viable As Gobir Emerges CIPM President](/media/k2/items/cache/1b5a9ae88fadaa4e39a5a6c09f23d0fd_L.jpg)
The Chairman, the Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has listed ways HR practice can be viable in the Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions.
The former permanent secretary spoke on Wednesday as the chairman of the investiture of Mal. Ahmed Ladan Gobir, FCIPM, as the President and Chairman of Governing Council of CIPM, in Lagos.
The seasoned bureaucrat who spoke on the topic "IPM and the Unfinished Business of Reform in the Public Service" disclosed that his significant relationship with CIPM spanned many years.
According to him, CIPM is one organization he counts as a partner in the struggle for transforming the public service system in Nigeria.
"This is why I am more than delighted to be witnessing, and chairing, this investiture of the new President and Chairman of the CIPM Governing Council. CIPM is strategic as the key umbrella body—the community of practice—for administering HR practice in Nigeria. Since its founding in 1968, it has consistently continued to push the frontiers and boundaries of the HR profession as well as being in the vanguard of HR management praxis in ways that have consolidated the status of its members, and its own status as a global organizational brand", he said.
He was hopeful that as a distinguished Nigerian, a formidable HR thought leader, astute corporate lawyer and a management professional par excellence, Gobir's work was already clear to him " within the challenges that CIPM might be currently facing, and how the organization could be positioned as a significant stakeholder in the overall task of institutional reform in Nigeria."
Lauding preceding presidents, and especially the administrative and visionary efforts of Mr. Olusegun Mojeed, the immediate past president of CIPM, for a most remarkable tenure filled with spirited strides, innovations and commendable achievements and legacies, Olaopa said that no avid watcher of Nigeria’s public administration, and CIPM’s role, could be in any doubt as to the depth of clarity amongst CIPM’s thought-leaders regarding what was the next level for CIPM, especially at this momentous time in the profession’s annals, " a time when the world of work is witnessing profound rethinking and reformulation to institutionalise the post-Covid new normal, and, at that, as we navigate the unfolding Fourth and Fifth Industrial Revolutions."
According to Olaopa, one issue that is integral to HR rethinking and the vision of the future across all sectors of the Nigerian economy is the fact that at no time has the people factor in organisations and human capital been so core critical to development prospecting and national productivity.
Drawing lessons from comparable experiences around the globe on how nations have transformed from abject poverty to increased national income growth, and technological cum institutional advancement, Olaopa observed that all high-performing economies without exception, gave greater prominence to knowledge, human capital and governance.
"In raising the quality of governance, we came to the conclusion that the rate of progress that Nigeria will achieve will depend in part upon the degree to which political power is matched with policy and managerial intelligence.
"This is consistent with HE President BA Tinubu’s aspiration to emplace a government of national competence. In all of this, it was clear to us that public administration, leadership sophistication, competent national change management strategy and reprofiled national value system, will be critical success factors at play to unlock the binding constraints that have constrained successful translation of the many transitions of the past and the present to sustainable national structural transformation and development", he said.
Olaopa highlighted "some issues of concern that require our joint spirited intellectual and practical interrogation first by the public administration community of practice with CIPM filling in for the core professions elements".
He listed these as the recognition that while HR function should be professionalised, HRM is no longer the exclusive responsibility of HR departments, as line managers also need significant people management skills for overall systems’ effectiveness.
He said: "HR function must necessarily transition from a preoccupation with passive role of administering on the bases of rules, regulations, and procedures, to developing and pursuing policies in manner that extract performance results and productivity bargain from people and processes. HR innovations are required to restore government as preferred employer of labour, which will demand significant systems changes so the public sector can attract and retain top talents in an increasingly competitive labour market.
"The public service must raise its game as it anticipates and manages the fresh new orientation of that the Millennial and Gen Z generations of managers for example to the workplace, especially their preference for workplace flexibility and flexi-working so they can pursue other rewarding interests.
" The public sector also needs to raise its game so it can optimise PPPs contracts at its higher maturity curve and levels, which demands that it builds advanced acumen in public officials in commercial skills, knowledge of international business practices and labour laws, multicultural sensitivities and multiple language, to name just a few.
"It should also recognise that the transition from being primarily administrative expert to being change agents and strategic partners has automatically relocated the HR function from the back office that it still occupies to the front office.
"While the extent to which artificial intelligence, robotics, etc. are transforming the way we do things is growingly becoming clear to thought leaders, what is uncertain is how well we can cope with the speed of change and how to convert the uncertainties it creates into real opportunities."
He continued: "The public sector in building on past reform gains and current commendable initiatives, must recognise that the Weberian ‘I am directed’ managerial model and tradition that was developed for the use of paper-based, top-down pyramidal structured control and procedure-oriented organisations with segmented way of delivering services requires a whole paradigm rethinking so the much bandied performance-based systems can take shape.
"The new performance-managed HR model will however necessarily be customer-centric with HR partnering with line managers to refocus HRM from just efficiency concerns and due process compliance to effectiveness within framework of a new productivity culture.
"Besides, HR managers as change leaders in the public sector requires deepening of HR skills with respect to their role in risk management. In so doing, they will not just support MDAs reforms, they will become the sponsors of change while at once driving the change.
"This suggests the need to deepen action research as a component of management cum operation research and organisation development (OD), to enable HR institute a learning culture through challenging of the status quo as champions of cultural transformations directed at translating desirable culture and public service values into public managers behaviour.
"The known public service employment policy emphasis on job security and guaranteed lifetime career then calls for rethinking, to create a distinction between career-based and position-based employment system. Central personnel governance will also need reprofiling to align the three defining trends namely, deepening of current practice of delegating HR powers to line managers, simplifying of rules, procedures and guidelines that underpin the shared powers and responsibilities.
"Ditto with centralised industrial relations governance and collective bargaining in the context of fiscal federalism, which tends to create unsustainable and intractable downstream problems that increasingly disempower the discretion that employers reserve to negotiate at operational levels, a dimension that requires deep-seated reform.The current practice of staff performance appraisal in the public service which creates the as yet resolved confusion about what is being assessed and rewarded, between results, competences, behaviour, knowledge or staff potential with associated problem of subjectivity, in a measure that focuses appraisal as means rather than the ends of performance assessment, is also core critical."
On Thursday morning, policemen tear-gassed defiant protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.
These protesters carried placards expressing their dissatisfaction with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, marching against hunger and hardship across Nigeria.
Protesters gathered at the Lekki Tollgate during the End Bad Governance protest on August 1, 2024.
Chanting solidarity songs, the protesters decried the hunger in the country and called for swift government action. “We just want the country to be stable. People are hungry. People are dying. We are not coming to fight; we only want the government to do something,” said one female protester.
Numerous security agents, including policemen, soldiers, officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency, were present at the iconic tollgate.
They informed the mostly young demonstrators of a court order restricting their gathering to Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota and Peace Park in Ketu, both in Lagos mainland.
The youths who converged at the tollgate rejected the relocation to Lagos mainland and continued their demonstrations until they were dispersed by police teargas.
The nationwide protests against economic hardship began on August 1, 2024, and are scheduled to continue until August 10 across all states in the country.
In recent months, food and basic commodity prices have skyrocketed as Nigerians face one of the worst inflation rates and economic crises, exacerbated by the government’s petrol subsidy removal and forex unification policies.
Despite warnings from the police, military, and Department of State Services against Kenya-style protests, and politicians’ appeals for youths to cancel the planned rallies, the young people remain undeterred.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, has lamented the destruction of a technology hub in Kano, just days before its scheduled launch.
The Digital Innovation Park, designed to support Nigeria’s technical talent accelerator program (3MTT), was reportedly set ablaze and looted during the protests on Thursday.
“Sad to learn that our Digital Innovation Park in Kano slated for launch next week to support our technical talent accelerator (3MTT) has been set ablaze and looted by protesters,” Tijani stated in a post via X on Thursday.
The incident occurred as part of wider unrest in Kano, where protesters targeted the yet-to-be-commissioned Nigeria Communication Commission Industrial Park.
Tijani highlighted the immediate impact of this destruction on planned initiatives.
“Alongside #3MTT, this building is set to host our buildathon holiday maker programme for secondary school kids starting next week,” he added.
The minister characterised the damage as a setback for the journey to deepening the workforce for technology and creating job opportunities for the youth.
“Millions of Naira down the drain,” Tijani said.
Protesters have reportedly blocked the flow of free movement at the Suleja axis of the Abuja-Kaduna highway in Niger state.
Naija News learnt that hundreds of travellers are currently stranded due to a section of the road being blocked by the protesters.
An Abuja resident, identified as Abubakar Ibrahim, in an interview with Daily Trust, lamented over his inability travel to his home state of Kaduna.
According to Ibrahim, the vehicle he boarded around 11:40 am on Thursday, had spent over two hours around Gauraka junction.
He said the gridlock had extended to some kilometeres, covering between Aluminum Village and nearby Zuma military barracks.
He said, “I left Zuba town where I boarded the vehicle before 10 am, but we have been made to stop here around Gauraka junction where we have spent about two hours. Protesting youths have blocked the highway.
“There are few policemen standing from afar, but they can do nothing about the road block as the number of the youths is beyond their control.”
Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has clarified that his recent remarks on Nigeria’s population challenges were not aimed at any specific person or region and that he stands by his comments without apology.
Naija News reports that Fayose, an ally of President Bola Tinubu, recently suggested that polygamy and large family sizes are significant factors in Nigeria’s population crisis.
These remarks were made during an interview on Channels TV, where Fayose indicated that Tinubu’s difficulties in managing economic hardship stem from “indiscriminate” childbearing and marriage, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
In response, social activist and former Kaduna State lawmaker, Shehu Sani, condemned Fayose’s statements about marriage customs in the North.
Similarly, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dele Momodu, also criticized Fayose, urging against blame games during this critical period.
Addressing the backlash, Fayose took to his X handle to clarify his stance, stating, “No Apologies, My Comment Not Targeted At Anyone or Any Region.”
He elaborated, “I have no reasons to say derogatory things about anyone, not even the North, not the South.
“What I said was very clear.
“I said I visited a State in the North, I didn’t mention the State. And I gave an illustration that I got talking to a Gateman who said to me that he had four wives and 16 children. And I said what can the government do about such a person? What can government do about a Gateman with four wives and 16 children?
“That illustration is not about the North, it could be anyone in the Southwest, Southeast or South-South.”
Fayose emphasized, “Some people are saying I should apologize, and I want to state that I have no apology because I have not offended anyone. My point is, the nation needs to address the issue of its population, either North, South or anywhere.”
He further remarked, “It is regrettable that people like to pervert the truth and quote others out of context. Majority of those who have reacted to that interview did not even watch it, they didn’t also bother to see the video.
“Therefore, I can’t be bothered about the anger of anyone. I have no reasons to be derogatory about anyone, any region or group.”
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has declared that the #EndBadGovernance protest in Kano State is no longer peaceful.
The presidential media aide took to his account on the X platform to share some happenings in the ancient city of Kano, which informed his submission.
Onanuga said properties were getting destroyed, and some of the protesters had started looting items, including mattresses, bags of rice and other things.
He shared a video of an attack on a property during the protest in Kano, with the caption; “The place attacked is a supermarket on Hadejia Road in Kano, all in the name of protest.“
In another video of the incident, the presidential media aide wrote: “An office attacked in Kano. It is no longer a peaceful protest in the city.”
Earlier, Onanuga had also shared some pictures of protesters looting in Kano.
He wrote: “Protesters are also looting in Kano, stealing furniture, rice bags, mattresses and so on.”
In another video, Tinubu’s aide also disclosed the vandalization of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) building in Kano State.
“Protesters go on rampage in Kano. Here is the gate house of the NCC set ablaze,” he wrote.
Six protesters have been reportedly shot dead, with many others sustaining injuries in the ongoing hardship protest in Suleja, Niger State.
Naija News learnt that the victims were killed while security operatives were struggling to dislodge a group of protesters who mounted a barricade on a section of the Abuja-Kaduna highway, trapping motorists for several hours.
However, an uproar occurred after the arrival of the reinforcement team, which was sent to restore sanity to the area.
A resident of Hassan Dalatu Road, Suleja, identified as Yahaya Nda Isah, was reportedly hit by a stray bullet while on his bike in front of the Suleja Police ‘A’ division, where protesters had assembled.
A nephew of the deceased who spoke with Daily Trust said his uncle was on his bike without joining the ongoing protest when the bullet fired to disperse the protesters hit him on his chest, and he died on the spot.
He said, “He was my uncle. He was not even protesting. He was passing in front of the Police ‘A’ division where some people were protesting when stray Bullet hit him on his chest and he died. As I speak with you, I am in his house alongside other mourners. It’s unfortunate.”
Another victim identified as Mallam Abu also said died on the spot with three other people shot at the same scene while 2 others were shot at the Suleja Junction on Abuja-Kaduna road.
Spokesperson of the Niger State Police Command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, said some hoodlums also attempted to set the Tafa LGA ablaze, but security operatives dispersed them.
He said, “The miscreants attempted to set the Tafa LGA ablaze, they were dispersed by the Police and military. Kaduna road and toll gate was cleared.”
#EndBadGovernance Protest (Day 1): Protest turns violent as Youths clash with Police in Abuja
AFOLABI
A tense standoff between angry youths and police officers has erupted at the Kurudu Axis in Abuja, with protesters blocking the road using burning tires and refusing to allow vehicles to pass.
Despite attempts by the police to engage in dialogue and disperse the crowd using tear gas, the situation remains volatile.
The youths, fueled by frustration and anger, are demanding attention to their grievances, while the police are working to maintain order and restore normalcy to the area. The confrontation has brought traffic to a standstill, causing disruptions to daily activities.
As the situation continues to unfold, concerns about safety and potential escalation are growing. The use of tear gas by the police has added to the tensions, and it remains to be seen how the situation will be resolved.
Two parallel groups, for and against Tinubu’s government staged their protest in Yola as security agents averted a clash by the two groups.
As the two groups marched in opposite routes, the situation got tensed, as they started infiltrating into each other leading to commotion and verbal abuse.
The presence of heavily armed personnel prevented the situation from degenerating into a free for all fight.
No breach of peace has been recorded in Adamawa, even as the situation has created fear among the people.
More...
….Warns against any attempt to arrest Obi
National Chairman of Abia State Elders Consultative Forum, Archbishop Professor Princewilll Ariwodor, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to honourablly quit if he had no solution to the crumbling Nigerian economy.
The cleric who was recently elected the world President of International College and Council of Bishops and Apostles, ICCOBA, in Dublin, spoke with Vanguard in the wake of the nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance.
He argued that the President should not have made himself available to lead the country if he knew he had no solution to the challenges plaguing the nation particularly the hardship created by his anti-people policies.
Professor Ariwodor cautioned Government against any attempt to scare citizens from holding peaceful protest, describing such as an ambush against democracy.
He described the precarious economic situation in the country, and called for urgent action to revamp it.
“We have never experienced this level of decay in the economic management of this country. Other leaders were in one way or the other better than the current Government.
” Tinubu should resign if he is unable to fix the economy. The Nigeria economy was far better before he took over. Buhari handed over to him a better economy which he has now destroyed.
” But his allies and psychopaths don’t tell him the truth. Nigerians are suffering, there is no pretense.”
Archbishop Ariwodor warned against use of force to suppress the nationwide protest, insisting that Nigerians have right to peaceful protest.
“Nigerians are hungry and have the constitutional right to express their grievances through peaceful protest.
” The people are not violent, so, why will you apply force against peaceful protesters?
” Why will you flog people and ask them not to cry? You are flogging the nation and shouldn’t ask the people not to cry.
” Government should listen to public opinions. Pressure groups, provided they are not violent, make Governments to sit up. “
The Abia Elders Consultative Forum helmsman, also warned against any attempt to arrest the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, for speaking truth to power.
He said that Obi should not be persecuted for constructively criticising the Tinubu-led administration over its poor management of the economy.
Archbishop Ariwodor declared support for Obi and other Nigerians who had criticised the bad policies of Government, or declared support for peaceful protest.
” Abia elders solidly stand behind Obi. And if anybody attempts to arrest him, we will all march to Abuja, and they should get ready to slaughter all of us there. If anybody touches him for speaking the truth, the person should be ready to kill all of us.
” I spoke with Obasanjo and I agree with his advice to Tinubu that peaceful protesters should not be touched. This is democracy. I totally endorse the position of the former President in the statement he had issued.”
The cleric disagreed with those calling for the shelving of the nationwide protest, accusing them of deceiving the President for personal gains.
“We want to dissociate ourselves with the advice of Igbo leaders who found themselves in position of authority, and do not see the level of suffering of the Nigerian masses as a result of bad governance.
” Why will you want people to keep quiet and remain in the House when a cup of beans is N600 and two cups of garri N500?”
He, however, advised the protesters not to go violent but express their grievances within the ambit of the law.
The Nigerian Bar Association has announced that it is offering free legal support services for protesters whose fundamental human rights may be violated during the ongoing nationwide #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest.
The association’s President, Yakubu Maikyau, in a statement on Thursday, August 1, through the NBA National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Lawal, disclosed that directives have been sent out to all chairpersons of the 130 branches of the association to take up any case(s) of breach of fundamental human rights of persons involved in the protest.
However, he advised protesters to carry out their activities peacefully. He also urged law enforcement agents to be professional and respect the human rights of others in the discharge of their duty.
The statement read: "The President of the Nigerian Bar Association Mr. Yakubu Maikyau, has yesterday, July 31, 2024, directed all the Chairmen/Chairpersons of the 130 Branches of the NBA to ensure that their respective Human Rights Committees take up observed or reported cases of breach of fundamental right (s) of any citizen, harassment, intimidation or torture perpetrated by law enforcement agents, the protesters or other identified members of the public in the course of the protest.
"Chairmen/chairpersons of NBA nranches have also been directed to set up Situation Monitoring Committees to monitor and report activities and interactions between law enforcement agents and protesters. To this end, an online monitoring form has been provided, and it can be accessed from the link https://rb.gy/q5xqg7.
"Members of the SMC and other members of the NBA engaged in the monitoring exercise are encouraged to complete the form and submit same for NBA’s record and further action where necessary."
It added, "To ensure effective coordination of this endeavor, the NBA has established Legal Support Services Teams across the country headed by the first Vice President of the NBA, Mrs. Linda Rose Bala; the Chairman NBA-SPIDEL, Sir Steve Adehi, (SAN); and the Chairman, NBA Human Rights Institute; Mr. Chinonye Obiagwu, (SAN). The NBA President has also written to the Inspector General of Police to collaborate with the NBA in this regard.
"As the protest commences today, August 1, 2024, the NBA wishes to encourage citizens, including members of the NBA who are joining the protest to exercise their right peacefully and within the bounds of the law. The security agencies are also urged to be professional and observe human rights in their duty to enforce the law."
The hunger protest, geared towards bringing the government’s attention to the economic hardship currently being faced by its citizens, is scheduled to hold in all 36 states of the country and the FCT. It starts today, August 1, and will last till August 10.
Members of opposition parties in the House of Representatives yesterday staged a walkout over a bill seeking to raise the ways and means cash advances from five to 10 per cent.
The walk out came at plenary, after an amendment by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, that the ways and means be reduced to two per cent was rejected.
Section (38) of the CBN Act (2007) provides that the advance by the apex bank, in the form of ways and means, must not exceed five per cent of the previous year’s revenue of the federal government.
Chinda moved the amendment during the consideration of the report on the bill at the committee of the whole, saying this would enhance transparency in federal government’s spending.
The report proposed raising the ways and means advances from the existing five to 15 per cent.
Chairman of the Committee on Finance, James Faleke, however, opposed Chinda’s amendment, urging the House not to go below the five per cent in the Act.
“For us to move on, we need to move up. For the issue of transparency and accountability, the Committee (on Banking and Currency) has the responsibility to oversight,” he said.
Contributing to the debate, Ibrahim Isiaka, a lawmaker from Ogun State, supported Faleke’s position, proposing that it should be raised from five to 10 per cent.
On his part, former deputy speaker of the House, Idris Wase, from Plateau State, moved a motion for an amendment that 10 per cent should be maintained.
Benjamin Kalu, the deputy speaker and presiding officer, appealed to members for understanding, in view of the recent increase in the minimum wage of workers, saying the government needed more money.
Hardship: NLC, CSOs unimpressed as Reps cut salaries by 50% for 6 months
“There is gap, and funding has to come from somewhere to bridge the gap in meeting government’s obligations,” he said.
Consequently, he called for a voice vote on Wase’s amendment motion, the “nays” were louder than the “ayes,” but he ruled in favour of the “ayes.”
This provoked the lawmakers who loudly expressed their dissent with a repeated “no”.
It was at this point the opposition lawmakers, led by Chinda, walked out of plenary.
Subsequently, the report was adopted and passed for third reading.
Ways and means is a loan facility through which the CBN finances federal government’s budget shortfalls.
The CBN law limits advances under ways and means to five per cent of the previous year’s revenue, but this has been observed in breach over the years.
On May 23, 2023, the Senate approved N22.7 trillion ways and means loan, thereby securitising the debt, following a request by former President Muhammadu Buhari on December 28, 2022, asking the lawmakers to do so.
In January 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari told the Senate it would cost the Federal Government about N1.8 trillion in interest if the National Assembly failed to approve the N22.7 trillion in extra-budgetary spending.
#EndBadGovernance: Don’t plunge Nigeria into anarchy - APC diaspora tells protest organisers
AFOLABI
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Spain chapter, has urged organisers of the proposed nationwide protest to be patient with President Bola Tinubu rather than plunge Nigeria into anarchy with the planned demonstration.
The organising secretary of the chapter, Julius Fayemi, in a statement on Wednesday, urged Nigerian youths to disregard anyone calling for protest in the country.
Mr Fayemi, however, said that no one was disputing the right to protest in any democratic society to remind the ruling party that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
“Nigerians should be patient and dialogue; this is not the time to put the state into anarchy.
“If any analyst is telling the ‘Gen Z’ and the Millennium generations to protest peacefully without being hijacked by hoodlums, it is a lie from the pit of hell.
“If we review the list of protests in Nigeria in the era of colonial rule to date, can anyone point out and tell the world which protest ended peacefully?” he said.
He highlighted some protests that had left sour tastes in the mouth, including the Aba riot against taxation imposed by the colonial government in 1929 and the Egba women’s riot in the Palace of Oba Ladapo Ademola II in 1947.
He also listed the “Ali Must Go” riot against Segun Okeowo and Ahmadu Ali because of increments of 50 kobo school fees in 1978 and the protest against Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) organised by the National Union of Nigeria Students in 1989.
“We all witnessed the protest in Nigeria against the annulment of the election by the military regime in 1993 and that of the removal of fuel subsidy by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012.
“#EndSars 2020 is still in our memory. If any politician comes on any social media or platforms where youth should protest instead of dialogue, he or she is playing to the gallery.
“In all these protests, there was none that ended without claiming lives and properties.
“When the chips are down, the bourgeois and the privileged will leave the shore of Nigeria for safety.”
According to him, Nigeria must discourage and disregard the jingle of protest and join hands to move the country forward.
The APC chieftain said that Nigeria must cherish its unbroken 25 years of democracy, saying, “worst of civilian government is better than the best military.”
“Let’s allow this government to correct the mistakes of their predecessors. After all, hardship did not start today. Allow Mr President to focus and diagnose the problem, and a solution is around the corner.
“No government is perfect; one year may not be enough for the Tinubu administration to correct and change Nigeria. We are not ready to repeat the #EndSars protest,” he said.
Mr Fayemi, however, urged the government to talk to the youth and not talk at the youth, saying the problems facing the country were accumulated and not created by Mr Tinubu.
“Democracy is about dialogue. Nobody is saying protest is not part of democracy, but it should not be political.
“We know that the demands of the protesters are legitimate, but give the current government time to correct the anomalies.
“Give this regime time to ameliorate the suffering of the people because the agitation goes beyond the administration,” he said.
There have been so many controversies around some youth groups planning a nationwide protest from August 1 to 10 to demand the government’s solutions to rising costs of living and economic hardship.
(NAN)