By Michael Oche
My take on day one of the protest.
At the start of this protest, I had told myself that I will be indifferent, cheering both sides. Reason being that there is real hardship in the land. People are genuinely suffering and have a right to express their grievances. But I’m a little enlightened to understand some reasons behind the hardship as well as efforts being made by government in the form of reforms. Though, the reforms are painful and slow. So, I sympathize with both sides. When I say both sides, I mean both poor masses and the Tinubu led government. You would excuse me to stand in the middle as a member of the fourth estate of the realm.
However, after day one of the protest and seeing some of the destruction of properties on one hand, and the attack on protesters by security operatives on the other hand, I decided to share my 2 kobo opinion.
First, we are complaining of poor infrastructure, and you are destroying the small one we have. How can you burn the only car in your house because you caught your husband cheating on you? This is insensitive!
Secondly, the organisers of the protest should stop pretending that they didn’t know that the protest will be hijacked and will result to violence. A hungry man is an angry man. But also, what was the government thinking, hiring people to do counterprotest? You can’t beat a child and expect that child not to cry. People have a right to express their grievances. President Bola Tinubu should have addressed the nation on Monday — effective communication was important at this stage. Be honest with citizens, tell them the challenges and the efforts the government is making to address their plight.
And my last point, which is very key?
At the end of this protest, who benefits? Well, at the end of the protest, some people will be invited to “round table” to “discuss with government”. None of the actual poor people who are starving will be included in that discussion. Those people you see running to TV stations, emergency “Public affairs analysts” and “human rights activists” are positioning themselves already for such opportunities to be invited to the round table. During that discussion, some will collect money, in the form of sitting allowance and other “favours”. Others will get financial grants from U.S. departments or other International NGOs as human rights activists. Others will claim the Nigerian government is after their lives, and will get asylum. But guess what will not change -The life of the poor man! Price of garri or rice will not go down. Because the real issues causing the inflation won’t be addressed in 10 days. The issue of inequality, insecurity, inflation, unemployment, and poverty won’t be resolved in a month.
To government, I would say that the voices of the protesters reflects the voices of millions of the citizens. This is an opportunity to fix the rot in the system. And this is an opportunity to communicate better with citizens. Let citizens be informed about efforts being made. Once there is a vacuum in communication gap, misinformation, and disinformation takes advantage of such gaps.
For the protesters, please protest, but don’t destroy public properties. Don’t destroy or loot businesses belonging to individual citizens. The properties you destroy won’t address your hunger. It will aggravate it, actually. Private business whose properties are destroyed will lose investment and when they shut down, more people will lose their jobs.
Worst still, corrupt politicians will claim to budget for fixing this public infrastructure that were destroyed. Another opportunity for them to steal. Enough said. See you tomorrow at the protest ground. Your favourite guys and I will be cheering you from here.
Michael Oche is a journalist based in Abuja
