A pro-democracy group, Nigeria First Project Initiative, has called on Nigerian youths to shun the planned nationwide protests, stressing that Nigeria’s challenges could not be addressed through street protests.
The call is contained in a communique co-signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Hamza Umar Saulawa; Director of Research and Documentation, Bishir Dauda; and Director of Contact and Mobilization, Rilwanu MD Mukhtar and issued at the end of a one-day interactive session held in Katsina State.
The interactive session drew participants across youth-based organizations, students’ unions, people with disabilities, women groups, faith-based groups, academia, indigenous leaders, and human rights defenders.
According to the communique, the group acknowledged that tNigerians are facing severe hardship, including a high cost of living and low purchasing power.
“However, we all agreed that street protests are not the best method of addressing our challenges. We premised our reason on historical facts, which show that most of the protests conducted in Nigeria were usually characterized by blockage of roads, harassment of passersby, intimidation, killings, looting of public warehouses, and destruction of critical national assets, among others.
“Our position is also guided by the outcome and impact of street protests in some neighboring African countries, such as Sudan, Libya, and Egypt, which include violence, coup d’état, and civil war.
“Moreover, we have decided not to plunge into the streets because our dear country, Nigeria, is being confronted by multiple challenges, including terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, and vandalism, and therefore, we don’t want to add salt to injury by acting out of anger, which will further divert the attention of our leaders and our gallant security forces.
“More important is the appeal and exhortations by our leaders and elders, including learned ulamas, royal fathers, and senior citizens, who all advised us to rescind our earlier option of staging street protests. We are people of culture; hence, we can’t snub our wise elders,” the statement added.
The group, therefore, urged the Nigerian youths to shun the upcoming nationwide protest tagged” “End Bad Governance”.
“All members of this coalition will not partake in the protest. Instead, we are going to continue to explore non-confrontational approaches to channeling our grievances and those of our members.
“In addition, while we commend the leadership at both national and sub-national levels over their efforts to address the challenges, we urge them to expedite more measures that will ameliorate the suffering of the masses by implementing more welfare schemes,” the group added.
“Meanwhile, we enjoin the citizens, particularly the youth, that they should not allow anarchists to use them to destabilize Nigeria.
“In conclusion, we thank His Excellency, the Acting Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Farouk Lawal Jobe, who was ably represented by the Chief Of Staff, and for offering us wise counsel, which is always to put our country first before anything else.
“We thank all the dignitaries that attended this dialogue, including our learned resource persons, heads of security agencies, government functionaries, media representatives, and leaders of many non-profit organizations,” the statement concluded.
