In recent weeks, discussions about a nationwide protest with the hashtag #EndBadGovernance to voice citizens’ grievances about the nation’s state have dominated public discourse. Efforts to increase support have also intensified, leading to the upcoming 10-day nationwide demonstration against challenges and ineffective leadership under President Bola Tinubu, who took office almost a year ago, on May 29, 2023.
Nigeria continues to struggle with a 34.2% inflation rate, the highest in almost three decades, amid a cost of living crisis after President Bola Tinubu’s decision last year to remove the petrol subsidies and significantly devalue the naira.
Frustrated citizens have taken to social media to mobilise protests from August 1 against bad governance and economic hardship.
Participants plan to gather at the governor’s offices across the country and the National Assembly in Abuja. Participants are also due to block roads from city centers and airports in Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt.
What are protesters demanding?
Organisers and supporters of the protest include: concerned Nigerians, Nigerians Against Hunger, Initiative for Change, Take It Back Movement, Revolution Now, Human Rights Co-Advocacy Group, Nigerians Against Corruption Initiative, Citizens for Change Advocacy Initiative, Timely Intervention, Active Citizens Group, Students for Change, We Coalition, Total Intervention, Refurbished Nigeria, Tomorrow Today, Our Future in Our Own Hands Initiative, Youths Against Tyranny, and Call a Spade a Spade Movement, among others.
They have demanded that the government:
- Offer free education
- End insecurity
- Declare a state of emergency on inflation
- Disclose lawmakers’ pay
- Reopen national borders,
- Put an end to hunger, economic hardship, and bad governance, among others.
The government’s response
Premium Times reports that the government has taken various steps to prevent the protest from being held or, if held, from turning violent.
The steps include meeting with state governors, traditional rulers, and clerics. They also include threats by security establishments such as the Nigerian Army and the State Security Service, which said it had identified the protest’s financiers.
Nigeria’s government on Wednesday pleaded for more time and patience to end economic hardships as citizens mobilise for demonstrations, a day after the country’s police chief warned against protests.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) demanded the details of the leaders and organisers of the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest, saying such demand was constitutional, citing that “the Nigeria Police holds the responsibility to ensure that any activity, including protests, does not pose a threat to national security.
After a meeting between cabinet ministers and the secretary to the government and federation to discuss the impending protests, Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters that there was no need for demonstrations.
“The president is listening, and he has a message to Nigerians, and that message is that we must all calm down. They should please cooperate and give the government more time, everything they have asked for, all their pleas will be answered,” Idris said.
President Bola Tinubu has also urged citizens not to participate in the protest, saying the organisers were not patriotic. “The sponsors of protests do not love our country. They have no love for the nation. They do not understand citizenship. They have alternative passports. They are in different parts of the world, holding meetings virtually.” President Tinubu said in a Friday statement.
In an attempt to quell looming fires, the Federal Government has created centres across the country where citizens can buy bags of rice for as little as N40,000 (from the original price range of N70,000–N100,000). But Nigerians were not too impressed by this stunt:
The Counter-Protest
On Sunday, July 28, photos and videos of a counter-protest tagged “Say No to Protest” floored the internet in a show of solidarity for President Tinubu’s administration. The ‘counter-protesters’ called on other youths in the country to shun the upcoming protest, referencing the 2020 #EndSARS protest that led to the destruction of property and loss of lives in the state. The youths claimed that the planned protest might recur, and they hope to prevent it from happening again.
This, however, has resulted in outrage from Nigerians, as the anti-protesters are being seen as government agents to deter citizens from exercising their human rights.
What’s next?
As the protests draw near, organisers and their supporters remain undeterred in their decision to take the streets to pursue a better future for Nigeria. At the same time, the government has also strongly expressed plans to prevent the protests from happening, a stance which they believe is for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians. There are a lot of uncertainties that will be revealed in the coming days.
This is a developing story.
