Hunger protest: Northern Elders Forum faults Tinubu’s address

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), has expressed concern over President Bola Tinubu’s national address on the ongoing hunger protests.

The NEF said the President was silent on the severe security situation in the North-West and other parts of the North.

In a statement released on Monday by its Director of Publicity and Advocacy, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the NEF lamented the escalating issues of banditry, kidnapping, rape and other criminal activities in the region that have caused widespread fear and insecurity.

The Forum equally noted that there are challenges in policing northern communities, where criminal elements continue to cause harm, resulting in abandoned farmlands, closed schools and destroyed livelihoods.

The NEF expressed disappointment that the President’s speech did not address these pressing issues or offer reassurance to affected communities.

It regretted that despite choosing not to comment on the ongoing protests in the country — thereby remaining committed to peace and national stability — the Forum had hoped for the President’s acknowledgment of the North-West’s struggles and other affected regions.

“They anticipated words of encouragement and an assurance of concrete steps being taken to alleviate the security challenges faced by these communities. The NEF had high hopes for the President’s speech, expecting that he would address the dire humanitarian disaster that criminal activities have brought upon our nation.”

According to the NEF, the scale of the crisis is immense, with millions of the citizens displaced internally, and hundreds of thousands of orphans facing hunger and malnourishment. The Forum described the challenges as new and alarming realities that were previously unknown in the land.

The Forum added that it is essential that the magnitude of the challenge is not underestimated, and expressed the belief that dealing with the humanitarian disaster in the North will require a level of political will and administrative competence that goes beyond what is needed to defeat criminal gangs.

It added, “The simultaneous challenges of combating insurgency and banditry, rehabilitating IDPs, and rebuilding lives, communities, and infrastructure must all be top priorities for the government. We expected the President to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and outline concrete plans for addressing these critical issues.”

The group opined that the focus should have been on finding sustainable solutions to the crisis, prioritizing the needs of the affected communities, and ensuring that necessary resources are allocated to support them.

The Northern elders in the same vein pointed out that it is vital that the government demonstrates a strong commitment to addressing the humanitarian disaster and shows that it has the capability to lead the nation through challenging times.