#EndBadGovernance Protest: Organisers declare 1 October ‘National Day of Survival’

The planned protest slated for 1 October- NIgeria’s Independence Day, has been declared “National Day of Survival” to kick against the what they described as bad policies and programmes of President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

They said the policies and programmes, allegedly influenced by the Bretton Woods institutions, such as the currency devaluation, removal of fuel subsidy, among others, have impoverished more Nigerians as evidenced by the “harsh economic conditions”.

The organisers, under different aegis, in a joint statement on Sunday called on all Nigerians to troop out en masse and protest peacefully across the country.

The groups include The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), Joint Action Front (JAF), Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), and Yoruba Revolutionary Movement (YOREM).

Others are Coalition for Concerned Nigerian Citizens (CCNC), Initiative for a Better and Brighter Nigeria (IBBN), Movement for African Emancipation (MAE), Pan-African Consciousness Renaissance (PACOR-Nigeria), Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR).

Demands

The protesters are also demanding the release of detained protesters, journalists, and activists, as well as an end to anti-poor policies.

According to the protesters, the Tinubu-led administration’s policies, including fuel price hikes, electricity tariff increases, and naira devaluation, have imposed unprecedented hardship on millions of Nigerians, pushing many into “multi-dimensional poverty and monumental misery.”

“The middle class has been destroyed, and the rate of suicide is increasing,” the statement reads. “Despite this, President Tinubu continues to drive forward these criminal anti-human policies.”

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The group also condemned the erosion of civil liberties, including freedom of expression and assembly, under the current administration.

“We urge Nigerians to come together on October 1st to reflect on our journey as a nation and decide how to rescue our country from mass poverty amidst abundance,” the statement concludes.

The 1 October planned protest has also been mass tagged #FearlessInOctober.

EndBadGovernance protest

The #TheEndBadGovernance protest which lasted 10 days in August across Nigeria was a call for the federal government to reduce the size and cost of governance, reduction in prices of food, petrol, housing, and electricity; lowering interest rates, and checking insecurity.

However, hoodlums hijacked the protests in many northern cities.

The organisers said Nigeria’s 64th anniversary is not worth celebrating, insisting that since President Tinubu assumed office as President, he has allegedly imposed unprecedented hardship on millions of Nigerians and “pushed many into poverty and hardship.”