Beyond protests, dialogue is the ultimate act of strength, By Kayode Oladele

Another #EndSARS protest is building up but this time, in a different guise. While the nation is still nursing the old wounds, some forces have once again, taken over the social media, vigorously mobilising our vibrant youths to take to the streets, once again, to vent their anger over the hardship of the economy under the banner of #Endbadgovernance protests.

As already widely publicised, the planned protests will begin simultaneously across the 36 states of the federation from 1 August till 10th of the month. That implies that the economy that they are complaining about as being in a bad shape will then face total paralysis for good ten days. That will definitely, amount to throwing the baby away with the bath water! This in my opinion, should not be at this critical moment when all hands must be on deck to build a much stronger and virile nation. Otherwise, the socio-economic consequences of the planned protests will be too grave for all of us to bear.

In a democracy, protected rights such as peaceful protests are lawful means of showing public discontent against any government action or policy that is perceived to be undesirable. It is also a potent weapon to shape government policies particularly, when all other options, including dialogue have failed.

To be sure, there is nothing wrong in organising a peaceful protest and civil disobedience, like the Indian independence activist and father of nonviolence peaceful resistance movement for social and economic justice, Mahatma Ghandi did decades ago, or the non-violent resistance and civil disobedience movement led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond belief, peaceful protests in Nigeria are often hijacked by undesirable elements, snowball into uprising against the state and infringe upon the rights of other innocent citizens from going about their lawful businesses. That’s crossing the borders of protected rights.

Those who know me will admit that as a student activist and youth, there was hardly any protest in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s (be it labour or students) that I didn’t participate in either in planning or organizing. I remember the “Ango-Must-Go” Protests of 1986 which was the culmination of Professor Ango Abdullahi’s mishandling of students’ affairs at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and the “Anti-SAP Protests” of 1989 which was one of the most famous student-led anti-government protests that occurred throughout Nigeria between May and June 1989 etc. As a pro-democracy activist and lawyer, I also belonged to what Professor Sylvester Odion-Akhaine, the then Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), recently referred to in his letter to President Tinubu as the “engine room of CD” during the dark days of the protests against the annulment of June 12, 1993 Presidential election by General Ibrahim Babangida. As a member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that became the symbol for the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election results won by Chief MKO Abiola and mass resistance against the repressive regime of General Sani Abacha, I was once forced out of the country.

Hence, I know the importance of good government and I fully understand the inalienable right of the people to assemble peacefully, engage in Constitutionally protected protests and petition the government without fear of persecution or prosecution if they think a policy is not working or they want something to change. That is settled.

The socio-economic situation in Nigeria today may be unsavoury but it is without doubt, a consequence of many years of inept leadership, malfeasance policies, and bad governance which the current administration is trying hard to reverse. In doing so, the President is proactive and responsive to the public and making sure that the government is able to provide the necessary resources to support the people and cushion the effects of the current economic situation. Above all, he is not pretending to be all-knowing: he is listening, he’s engaging and he’s always ready for dialogue that can promote national unity and economic development.

Undoubtedly, the new reform policy initiatives introduced by President Bola Tinubu to re-shape and revitalize the economy have brought about some untold hardships on the populace and we all feel the pains. However, these are temporary sacrifices we all have to endure to rescue the nation from rent-seekers and ubiquitous powerful cabals who have held down the economy for so long.

Already, there are positive indices showing that the Tinubu’s administration is on the right track. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest report, projected that Nigeria will have a 3.1 GDP growth rate in 2024 due to reforms being implemented by the Tinubu administration. This is one of the best projections for an economy that had hitherto suffered prolonged haemorrhage under the successive governments. If the government eventually succeeds in stopping the economy from further bleeding, and it will, we will all be better for it. The future of our youths and coming generations will also be safeguarded and guaranteed.

Be that as it may, the revenue generation capacity of the Federal Government has shored up significantly since President Tinubu assumed the mantle of leadership. Available records show that state governments have received far more federal allocations than they did under the immediate past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. So much is the difference that states like Nasarawa and Anambra now get 100 percent and 70 per cent more respectively.

Naysayers can go and verify this from the appropriate quarters leveraging the Freedom of Information Bill. Figures don’t lie. Although the overall effect of this improvement might not have reflected that much in the quality of life of ordinary people, there is hope in the horizon that better days are coming.

Arguably, the challenge of food security in the country remains daunting despite the various measures adopted by the administration to address the hardship.

The purchasing power of income earners is dwindling amidst high inflation as well as fluctuation in the value of the naira. The shortage in the supply of food is partly due to the combination of weather and insecurity which had festered in some parts of the country under the successive governments. On the other hand, climate change is a global phenomenon affecting all economies both developed and underdeveloped.

As for the security concern, without shifting blame, the present government is frontally confronting the situation with all seriousness and commitment it deserves. However, all of us must understand that the task of protecting lives and property is not the sole responsibility of the government alone. It is our collective responsibility to deal with the menace of banditry, insurgency, kidnapping and ransom-taking which have made it difficult for farmers to go to their farms. Those who perpetrate these heinous crimes are no spirits. They are human beings like us. And they live in our communities.

While the fight against insecurity is still ongoing, the government has responded to the public outcry over the high rate of inflation by introducing a new policy directive that has approved the removal of tariff on some imported food items including rice, beans, and wheat for a period of five months as part of the ongoing fiscal measures to cushion the negative impact of the surging food prices nationwide. In no time, all the tensions arising from the current food crisis will naturally fizzle out. Once there is an improvement in supply chains, the prices of essential commodities will naturally drop. The directive is also expected to reduce food importers’ demand for forex. In 2023, Nigeria spent $2.13 billion to import food items from foreign countries.

Beyond the ad hoc solution, there are other long-term policy measures the Federal Government has adopted to guarantee sustainable food self-sufficiency at affordable prices for the teeming populace. These include, among others, the declaration of a state of emergency on food security and the National Agriculture Growth Scheme-Agro-pocket, where millions of farmers are supported with training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), certified inputs such as improved seedlings and organic and inorganic fertilisers as well as irrigation equipment at highly subsidised prices to enhance productivity and higher incomes to farmers.

In addition to these, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has also put together the first-ever Harmonised Extension Manual and National Agricultural Extension Policy, focusing on the effective dissemination and deployment of agricultural innovations/technologies to end-users using appropriate extension methods. The policy initiative aims to provide a pragmatic, effective, and efficient demand-driven pluralistic, ICT-enabled, and market-oriented extension service to all stakeholders including youths, women, and people with special needs to optimally use resources to promote sustainable agriculture and socio-economic development of the country.

As a demonstration of his commitment to an improvement in the well-being of the citizens, President Tinubu has also approved the take-off of the first phase of the Consumer Credit Scheme to enhance quality of lives by accessing goods and services upfront, paying responsibly over time. Consumer credit serves as the lifeblood of modern economies, enabling citizens to purchase crucial items, such as homes, vehicles, education, healthcare, and other essentials necessary for the fulfillment of their aspirations.

While all these are ongoing, some forces are bent on bringing down the roof to achieve their selfish agenda. As they did in the prelude to the #EndSARS protest, they are gradually regrouping to plunge the nation, yet again, into another round of crisis. They are vigorously leveling the discontent amongst the youths, focusing on the downside of the twin policy of fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange rate unification.

By implementing the two policies, tough as they are, Tinubu is not reinventing the wheel. It is a policy successive government had long campaigned for but lacked the political willpower to implement. In the run-up to the last general elections, all the presidential candidates subscribed and campaigned for it. None spoke against it until now when President Tinubu decided to take the bullet for our economic growth by taking the bulls by the horns. Those stoking the ember of crisis should therefore, have a rethink and set aside their agenda in the overall interest of the country.

Elections have come and gone. This is a time to reunite for the onerous task of nation-building. No single individual can do it all alone. Doing otherwise will lead us to nowhere. Rather, it will take us back and disrupt the trajectory of economic growth the IMF has predicted for this year.

At this delicate time, the nation can ill afford an unwarranted protest. Of course, there may be some genuine reasons for people to air their grievances. These could be channelled to the appropriate authorities through dialogue and constructive engagement. Tinubu is a listening president who is always ready for dialogue and always willing to accept responsibility for his actions. As a genuine democrat himself, he believes in dialogue as a means of resolving issues. Let us give him time to nurture his policies to fruition.

For our teeming youths, who are often used as willing tool and cannon folders, this is the best opportunity for them to achieve what they want to be. President Tinubu is not only youth-friendly, he is also prepared to implement policies that will guarantee an assured future for the younger generation. This, he has demonstrated through the inauguration of student loan scheme as part of his administration’s efforts to combat poverty through education.

Coming under the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), he has released N32 billion out of the N60 billion budgeted for the programme ready for disbursement. The programme aims to empower Nigerian youths by providing fair, transparent funding and removing financial barriers to educational opportunities. This is no small feat. No government has ever done anything close to that in our nation’s contemporary history.

According to the Executive Secretary of NELFUND, Mr Akintunde Sawyer, since the portal opened on 25 May, no less than 164,000 students have registered, with 103,000 applying for loans. In terms of what the administration has in stock for the youths, this is just the tip of the iceberg. All that is required for the youths to make the best use of the present situation is patience, support, and understanding.

No one gains anything from crisis. Yes, nothing is wrong with peaceful protest but everything is wrong with its destructive outcome. As experience has shown, hoodlums will ultimately hijack the process and unleash terror on innocent citizens. The 2020 #EndSARS protest is still fresh in our memories. To date, the Lagos State government is still counting the losses. The replacement cost of government buildings, transport buses, and other properties destroyed during the protest has been put at N1 trillion, while the overall cost to private businesses has been estimated to be several billion of US dollars.

While it may be difficult to estimate the exact loss, based on the significant contribution of Lagos State to the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country (approximately 30 per cent) and as over 50 per cent of non-oil industrial capacity, the impact of the crisis has been quite enormous. According to Greenwich Bank, the social unrest impacted negatively on direct investment in the country for the remaining part of the 2020 fiscal year. A total shutdown each day cost Lagos alone as centre of the civil unrest about N54 billion.

In the same way, should there be any protest now, there will be a manifest fall in the real GDP, resulting in rapid economic contraction for the rest of 2024. In the worst-case scenario, there will be disruptions in the supply chain, rising inflation, and a widening fiscal deficit as the government grapples with funding infrastructure. In the end, the innocent good people of Nigeria will be the losers for it. Let’s choose peace over chaos and give peace a chance. Beyond protests, dialogue is the ultimate weapon of peace.

Kayode Oladele, a lawyer and former legislator, writes from Abuja.