The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, explained on Wednesday why the Federal Government opposed planned protests over prevailing economic realities in Nigeria.
He said while Nigerians have the constitutionally guaranteed right to protest, the government was aware some people were planning to hijack the demonstration to cause trouble.
Idris, who stated this when he received the Charismatic Bishop Conference on a courtesy visit to his office in Abuja on Wednesday, said the President Bola Tinubu-led administration acknowledges the rights of every Nigerian to engage in protests.
According to him, the government is equally committed to ensuring that these activities do not disrupt public order or violate the rights of others.
“You see, the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes in everyone’s freedom within the laws to do what he thinks is right for him. Therefore, the President is not an opponent of protest of any kind but the President is an opponent of violence and anything that will negatively hamper the wellbeing of Nigerians. He believes and he has always been saying that within the tenets of democracy, you have every right to do whatever you want to do provided that right does not infringe on another person’s right.
“Why everybody is very cautious and very weary of this national protest is because we have seen what has happened around the world. We know that it’s almost impossible to hold this protest and then have peace at the end of the day. We cannot do that because some people are waiting to take the laws into their own hands,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement by his spokesperson, Rabiu Ibrahim.
According to him, Tinubu is fully aware of the genuine concerns and complaints expressed by Nigerians across the nation and he is actively working to implement effective policies aimed at alleviating the challenges faced by the citizenry and bringing relief to all Nigerians.
The minister said Tinubu was fashioning out a policy of paying stipends to all young university and polytechnic unemployed graduates in the country pending their formal employment in any sector of the economy.
“But beyond that, there is also another new policy that the President has formulated, which will begin to be seen very soon and that is that all young men and women who have finished universities and polytechnics and have certificates and have done their mandatory NYSC and have not been able to get jobs, will have something from the government to keep them afloat until the time they get jobs,” he said.
In his remarks, the President General of the Charismatic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Leonard Kawas, dissociated the conference from the planned national protest, saying they had been approached by some groups to join the protest.
“Your Excellency, recently we received some calls from some other religious organizations and other organizations asking us to join in preparation for a nationwide protest, which would start from 1st August 2024. We are here to let you know that we do not think the same. That we have rather decided to go all out and call for a truce.
“We have decided to sue for peace and humbly request that our brothers and sisters who are aggrieved in one way or the other, that they should give us some time while we continue to communicate and negotiate with this government on areas that are pertinent to them,” he said.
It will be recalled that some Nigerians under #EndbadgovernanceinNigeria# have threatened to embark on protest over the prevailing economic hardship from August 1 to 10, 2024.
