Protest is not enough to bring about measurable reforms – Osinbajo

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has emphasised that political action in Nigeria goes beyond protest to achieve measurable reforms.

Mr Osinbajo spoke the 6th edition of the Technology, New Media, Citizens and Governance Conference (TNCG).

He spoke on the topic: Technology as a Catalyst for Political Action in Africa

“Political action today must go beyond protest. We must see activities that directly catalyse development as important features of political action.

“And I want to emphasise that that protests, of course, are crucial. They are important, but we must use our resources also for direct action that have development objectives.

“We can instigate official action in various ways, for example, intervening in important areas of human capital development, such as education or healthcare.”

Social media for mobilisation

Speaking further, Mr Osinbajo highlighted how technology has influenced political action in Africa, citing the use of social media for #EndSARS protests in Nigeria and the Gen Z uprising in Kenya.

Mr Osinbajo admitted how social media platforms like X, Instagram and TikTok have been used to organise protests, raise funds, and disseminate information in real-time.

He also cited how the use of the Zeno app in Kenya allowed protesters to avoid police by receiving real-time updates on police movements, and the role of WhatsApp and Facebook in Zambia’s youth movement.

However, he reiterated the potential threats of social media platforms to democracy and individual and collective security, citing the potential for deepfakes to spread disinformation.

Protest without leadership

Mr Osinbajo also explained that protest without leadership can be a sign of weakness.

“Advantage of technology and particular social media in mobilising protesters is that the coordination of action can take place without any apparent leadership,” he said.

“And we’ve seen that on social media, it’s possible to organise without identifying any leadership at all might itself be a weakness.

“When there is no clarity of leadership and objectives, political action, no matter how dramatic and far reaching may be futile, may lead in the future to protest fatigue.”

He, however, noted that in situations where the objective of political action is to make substantive or structural changes, it can only be possible within the context of partisan politics.

Lagos efforts

Also speaking at the conference, the Lagos State Commissioner, Innovation Science and Technology, Olatubosun Alake, noted that there are various programmes in Lagos aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, such as the Lagos Innovates initiative and digital skills training for over 4,000 individuals.

Mr Alake emphasises the importance of providing the right technology tools and training people to use them effectively for economic value creation.

He added that to achieve a transforming technological drive Africa, there is need for a collaborative approach involving government, civic societies, and citizens to use technology responsibly.

TNCG Conference

The event is organised by BudgIT and Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria and sponsored by the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) and Paradigm Initiative.

PREMIUM TIMES, Business Day, The Cable, News Central, Tech Cabal, and Women Radio are the event’s media partners.

In his opening remarks, the Country Director of Budgit, Gabriel Okeowo, emphasised the importance of leveraging technology to drive political transformation across Africa.

“This platform is dedicated to harnessing the power of technology to drive political transformation across Africa,” he said. “Today, we gather to explore how we can collectively leverage our strengths to engage positively with governments and play our roles as active citizens or institutions.”