Hardship In The Land: Afenifere Suggests The Way Out …Tasks FG On What To Do …Pleads With Labour, Public Against Protests

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere, has, once again, expressed serious concern on the hardship being felt by Nigerians across the country.

The organization expressed the concern in a Press Statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, in which it also gave suggestions on how to ameliorate the pains in the land, bring succour to the people and put the country on the path to a sound economic recovery.

It would be recalled that the biting socio-economic situation in the country has led citizens in different parts of the country to protest late last week and early this week.

The main labour organizations in the country, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have also threatened to stage open protests on February 27 and 28, 2024.

TUC has backed out.

But Afenifere maintained that steps can be taken by the governments, leaders at various strata, members of the public and organized labour to prevent strike actions and protests.

“The first responsibility lies on the federal government led by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu along with state governors and by extension local governments. The second responsibility lies with influential stakeholders, community leaders and opinion moulders at various strata of the society including religious leaders. The organized labour unions too have their own responsibility in this situation.”

Afenifere spokesman then specified what to do by each of the identified segment.

“President Tinubu is hereby called upon to direct all government ministries, departments and agencies to patronize only locally made items and services – except where such items or services are not locally available. For instance, government officers should stop importing foreign made cars for official purposes. In the same vein, air transport owned and ran by Nigerians should be the first line of patronage by government officials. Doing so would not only enhance the productivity and capacity of the organisations concerned, it would boost their morale. Owners of these businesses would also continually want this administration to continue to thrive because their fortunes are somewhat tied to that of the government. Such patronage would also make owners and sympathizers of such organizations/companies to have a sense of belonging to the corporate Nigeria.”

Ajayi went further to say that the president can also order essential food items to be temporarily imported to fill the yawning gap in food supply in the country. This should be for a short while only, three to five months perhaps.

“In addition to opening food storages in the country, special arrangement must be made for all the 774 local government areas to embark on crash agricultural productions straddling all aspects; crops and livestock. This is to ensure that by the time the window of food importation is closed, a good number of local foods would have matured for harvesting. Government must also ensure that food merchants are assisted or encouraged to ensure that food prices come down considerably.

”The Yoruba organization quoted chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum and Gombe State Governor Inuwa Yahaya as calling on his fellow governors in all the states to invest in modern agricultural tools.

“We have set up an industrial park where we can process all the raw materials or agricultural produce that we have in the state. I think if all states will key in and work in tandem with the federal government, we shall easily reach the desired destination for Nigeria,” Yahaya had said after his meeting with President Tinubu on January 4, 2024.

Afenifere also touched upon how insecurity should be tackled because “without adequate security, farmers cannot go to the farm to carry out their businesses in the farm. Establishment of State and Local Government Police will help greatly in this respect. Modern technology must be deployed so that it would be easy to maintain security in those areas. Besides, anti-open grazing laws must be enforced by states that have promulgated the laws in their respective states. The in-coming state and local government police as well as Amotekun will be handy in enforcing the said laws especially in the South West and Middle Belt.”

Ajayi added that what was said above would be in line with what President Tinubu said during his recent meeting with state governors.

To further strengthen security and engender people’s confidence in the government as well as the operating system, Afenifere called on the federal government to engage the public more.

“At the moment, it does not look like relevant government officials are doing enough to explain what the government is doing to members of the public. This lack or paucity of meaningful public engagement is creating more gaps between the people and their government. We have no doubt that government is doing something about the challenges that the country is facing. But the actions of the government are not being explained in a manner that will engender hope in the people. In addition to explaining government’s actions to the people, government officials must also cut down on the cost of running their offices. It is by so doing that people will begin to trust them and have hope that things will be better soon. Hope is very important in the administration of human beings.”

The pan-Yoruba apex organization added that through the proposed engagements, even the labour unions are likely not to be as belligerent as they appear to be presently.

The body recalled that a spokesman of the organized labour, Comrade Uchenna Ekwe on a Channels Television programme on Friday, February 9, 2024, clearly stated that the labour does not gloat over going on strikes or protests.

Ekwe who is the NLC’s Head of International Relations submitted that they only resort to protests or strikes when all other means of resolving issues failed.

Afenifere therefore expressed confidence that if the federal government does the needful, there will be no protest or strike on February 27th or at any other time.

Maintaining that although the problems being tackled by Tinubu were cumulative – dating back to previous administrations, the public is ready to co-operate with the government “once the governments at all levels demonstrate sincerity and readiness to truly serve the people, Afenifere cited the heart-to-heart discussion that took place when members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) visited President Tinubu recently.

It would be recalled that the CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh had, during a visit to Aso Rock on Monday, January 22, 2024, stated that President Tinubu has “the sagacity to give leadership in battling our challenges and in turning around the fortunes of our nation, Nigeria, within a short time”.

Afenifere expressed the hope that the suggestions given here to combat the prevailing problems in the country would be made use of because the head of the present government is a listening person as attested to by Archbishop Okoh who told President Tinubu that “you are a listening leader, and we appreciate this” during which time he (Okoh) also urged Tinubu “not to relent in providing good governance by ensuring security, inclusivity, and peaceful co-existence”.

This was what made the man of God to pray for the president thus: “You will not stumble, and you will not fall.” And promised that since the president has extended a hand of fellowship to them in the body of Christ, they too will “embrace you and your family with the love of Christ”.

Afenifere urged traditional rulers, religious and community leaders as well as opinion moulders to see the task of re-orientating the society as a collective one. Direct engagement with the representatives at the three tiers of government rather than street protests needs to be embraced.

“Government should encourage sub-sector leaders to have meetings with those in their respective spheres to let them know that most of what is being done is self-destructive. For the situation to change, the way we view things and the way we do things too have to change” Ajayi concluded in the statement.