Violent Protests? No, this is time for harvest
By Dada Olusegun
Protests are an inalienable right of every citizen in a democratic setting. Nigeria, being the largest democracy in Africa, can not be an exception. As a matter of fact, section 40 of the Nigerian constitution guarantees the right to PEACEFUL assembly and association. Section 39 of the constitution also guarantees the right to freedom of expression and the press.
It is therefore normal for a citizen or group of citizens to assemble PEACEFULLY while also exercising their right to freedom of expression on anything happening in their country that they wish to talk about or voice out their opinion. Based on this premise, it needs to be emphasised that some Nigerians who are planning to take to the streets to protest in the coming days are not necessarily breaking any law. However, it is equally important to evaluate the necessity of the planned protests as well as scrutinise the undertones accompanying them.
From the information available in the public space some persons in opposition parties are the planners of a proposed nationwide protest, which they tag “End Bad Government in Nigeria” with the hashtag #ENDBGIN and which they are scheduling to hold between August 1 – August 10, 2024. The organisers have described this proposed 10 days of protest as 10 days of rage. There are also undertones in some quarters who want to make the protest become an “Operation Tinubu Must Go.”
When one looks at the twelve items on the list of demands by the protest planners, it becomes obvious that the planned protest is absolutely not necessary at this point especially when it is obvious that the protest is primarily targeted against the Tinubu-led federal government. The reasons are not far-fetched. The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is just 14 months old, even though it has been an eventful era so far. Within the 14 months of President Tinubu’s administration, a lot of landmark policies have been planted with many germinating already.
It is undeniable that Nigerians are currently passing through difficult times characterised by high prices of food and other consumer goods. The increase in general consumer prices has not been anywhere near commensurate with the rise in the income levels of an average Nigerian. This weakened the purchasing power of a lot of our people.
The trigger for these, of course, is the very necessary decisions taken by the Tinubu administration at the onset to tackle the fuel subsidy conundrum as well as bold monetary reforms to reconfigure our foreign exchange market as well as the value and stability of the Naira. These measures were necessary steps that we had to take to guarantee the continued survival of our economy. It is instructive that a lot of economic experts and even the major 2023 presidential candidates accepted that these tough decisions must be taken urgently.
President Bola Tinubu did not take these tough decisions and then went to sleep, his administration immediately set out to cushion the effects of these policies while also simultaneously building a sound foundation that will support a steady and sustainable economy. He started with a N35,000 wage award to civil servants and cash grants to millions of Nigerians as well as SMEs. Manufacturers were not left out either. We are beginning to bear witness to the fruits of these reforms across many sectors, having weathered the turbulent period of the early days.
Today, the CNG revolution is underway after navigating through procurement bottlenecks. The Presidential CNG Initiative (P-CNGi) has been opening one CNG conversion centre after another to help Nigerians convert their vehicles to run on the very cheaper and readily available CNG alternative fuel. The target is to convert at least 250,000 vehicles annually. To help quicken the adoption of CNG, the Tinubu administration apart from making a purchase of CNG-powered vehicles for government use compulsory, through the P-CNGi, it is converting vehicles of commercial transporters to run on CNG free of charge.
In the area of education, especially tertiary and vocational education, President Bola Tinubu scored a landmark policy victory with the establishment of the student loan scheme to help poor students in tertiary institutions take care of their academic expenses and also receive monthly upkeep allowance. This is a massive relief for parents/guardians of these categories of students. The student loan scheme also covers vocational training. Just last week, the President formally launched the loan disbursements to thousands of beneficiaries.
The Tinubu administration also just midwifed a 133% increase in the national minimum wage as part of efforts to increase the income of workers and raise the purchasing power of income earners. This wage increase, alongside the consumer credit scheme, another landmark policy of the Tinubu administration, is geared towards increasing the ability of Nigerians to meet their needs. A mass housing scheme known as the Renewed Hope cities and estates is also currently ongoing in some starts as part of efforts to bridge the housing deficit while also bringing innovative homeownership solutions that will lessen the financial burden Nigerians have to shoulder at once to get their own homes.
In the area of electricity, it is no longer hidden that there has been marked improvement in that sector. Many Nigerians are now enjoying stable power supply with many areas enjoying at least 20 hours of electricity daily. This is a product of deliberate actions by the Tinubu administration to solve long-standing issues that have always been an obstacle to the electricity supply business in Nigeria.
The Tinubu administration settled part of the legacy debts owed to Gas Companies and Gencos, which helped to improve liquidity in the electricity market and guarantee gas supply to thermal power stations. The improvement in the grid infrastructure also continued. It is important to note that part of the reason for the improved electricity supply being enjoyed by many Nigerians today is the charging of cost-reflective tariffs on Band A electricity consumers by the Discos. This is a huge incentive for both the Gencos to keep producing and Discos to keep distributing. As part long term solutions to our electricity problem, President Bola assented to the Electricity Act, of 2023 and a minor amendment in 2024. This act effectively decentralised the electricity sector allowing states to become regulators. This is the solution.
On the monetary side, the Tinubu administration has been able to achieve many very significant milestones. Through the concerted efforts of Yemi Cardoso-led CBN, we have been able to unify the FX rates, eliminating the arbitrage that previously existed due to the gap between the official market and the parallel market rates. Our foreign reserves have been growing and recently hit $37.05 billion. This is the highest level since January 2023 and is coming after the CBN cleared FX backlogs of more than $5 billion.
On the fiscal side, the President, through the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms that he established at the start of his administration, is reforming many of our tax laws and streamlining them to be in tune with modern realities while also being pro-business. Recently, a new withholding tax regulation was approved, which exempted small businesses, manufacturers, and farmers in Nigeria from paying withholding tax. This is significant and will free funds for many of these businesses, which are hitherto trapped along the withholding tax pipeline.
President Bola Tinubu is also tackling the transport infrastructure angle with uncommon vigour. Apart from completing ongoing road and bridge projects, the Tinubu administration has also embarked on the ambitious Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project as well as the Badagry-Sokoto highway project. This is aside from the completion of the rehabilitation of the third mainland bridge in Lagos.
On the issue of strengthening our federalism, President Bola Tinubu has not been found wanting and recently engineered the attainment of local government financial and administrative autonomy, which is a landmark on many bases. It simply means that Bola Tinubu is a President who wants the Nigerian federation to work as intended by the constitution.
From the foregoing, it is very strange that some individuals are bent on embarking on a protest against a government that is actually addressing the root causes of many of the existential problems we have been facing as a nation. It even becomes appalling when you realise that some among the would-be protesters are embedding a “Tinubu must go” refrain to their protest song. It is not difficult to discover that such persons are supporters of election losers, who have not been able to get over their electoral defeat and therefore want to probably achieve through the cover of protest and insurrection, what they could not achieve through the ballot.
Every discerning individual who loves this country knows that protesting against the government of President Bola Tinubu is not necessary at the moment because this is a man who is methodically fixing the nation, therefore, expecting Nigeria to be completely transformed in 14 months is borderline mischief. Most of the demands are
It is also important to state that the right to freedom of assembly is allowed in the constitution but the same constitution in section 45 also ensures that in exercising any of his/her rights, a citizen must not infringe on the right of another citizen such as freedom of movement. To this end, I must appeal to would-be protesters, especially those already threatening violence and blockade of roads leading into major cities and airports to understand that their right to assemble is not absolute and it does not give them license to violently obstruct the activities of other citizens or become destructive since the constitution guarantees the right to only PEACEFUL assembly and not just any assembly.
The leaders or organizers (both seen and unseen) of these planned protests owe their followers the duty to inform them properly that many of the things they are asking from the government especially, the federal government, are already ongoing while some are simply untenable. It is therefore unproductive to be demanding for something that is already being carried out. At this point, what we need as a country is a united front and not protests that can destabilise the nation.
