A former President of the Ijaw Youths Council, IYC, Worldwide, Udengs Eradiri has said it was unfair and premature to hold any hardship protest against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Eradiri, however, asked residents and citizens to direct their angst against their governors and local government chairmen, insisting that the President’s economic policies had generated more revenues and humongous resources for states across the country.
Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youths and later Environment in Bayelsa State asked people in their different states to protest against their governors and mount pressure on them to judiciously use improved resources accruing to them through Tinubu’s efforts to fight hardship in their states.
Eradiri in a statement in Port Harcourt on Sunday recalled that the removal of fuel subsidies had led to improved revenue allocations to the states adding that the President had continued to send different kinds of palliatives to states through their governors.
Besides, Eradiri, who was a Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party in Bayelsa State said it was premature to hold an organised protest against Tinubu’s government a year after he assumed office and was confronted by a failed economy.
He said: “I would have joined and mobilised youths for this protest if the motive was for nation building. The motive behind this protest is purely political. I have analysed the situation.
“Any protest against President Tinubu one year after he took over the government is premature and unfair. This President inherited the worst economy in the history of this country.
“President Tinubu is practically building a new economy from scratch. He is not building on the efforts of his predecessors because he inherited an economy struggling to survive in an intensive care unit.
“He has demonstrated the will to lay a foundation for a strong economy. Anybody expecting the gains of these difficult economic policies he has undertaken to spread magically within one year is unrealistic. The gains are already trickling down and in the next two or three years, this country will have a solid economy”.
Eradiri advised the youths not to engage in the protest saying it was a ploy to unleash violence on innocent people, loot shops and slow down the already achieved gains of Tinubu’s policies.
He said the situation in Nigeria would be worse after the planned protest, adding that some enemies of the country were behind the action.
Eradiri said: “Instead of diverting attention with this protest, people should be worried about the inability of their state governors to translate huge revenue allocations accruing to them to solving the common problems of the people.
“It is embarrassing that over 200 million people are complaining of hunger amidst vast arable land in their various states. Why are the governors not driving an agricultural revolution in their various states?
“This President has been outstanding in generating revenues and sending palliatives to the governors. Why are the governors not complementing the efforts of the President by making deliberate efforts to ameliorate the hardship in their states?”
Eradiri maintained that the planned protest was unnecessary, anti-people and politically motivated and asked the people to abstain from it.