A Lagos-based human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Tony Dania, has said about 25 percent of the target of #EndBadGovernance protest has already been achieved even before staging the protest.
He said the protests erupted because the government was not proactive in handling the issues that led to the protests.
He said, however, the Federal Government has woken up and is already responding to the demands and yearnings of the suffering citizens.
While addressing journalists yesterday in Lagos, he explained that the government has already come up with some populist policies to ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians by declaring selling of rice at a lower price, supporting Dangote for local refinery of petrol, and approving minimum wage for the workers.
He said: They’re selling rice. They’re coming up with populist policies, which is something they would have done before. They are trying to get to the issue that relates to Dangote refinery, which is something they would have thought about before now. So I think the protest has succeeded to some extent.”
Meanwhile, Dania said though he supported the protest if peaceful, he desisted from participating in the protest because it was not well coordinated, adding that the protest may be hijacked by hoodlum and become fatal, pushing the country into chaos.
According to the Activist, the so-called organisers of the protests do not have good well coordinated plans for the protests.
“Can any of the organisers control the protests if hijacked by the criminals? Can they control protests against the protest because the government will also protest against the protests and some politicians may even plant the tugs among the genuine protesters? Can they control the situation?
“The protest is justified and I support it except that I am not in support of the protesting being hijacked by criminals or by politicians. You can’t stop the area boys from coming in. You can’t stop the government from making their own protests against the protests.
“The protest is totally justified even though some cases have been seen to be very pronounced for other parties. It is not a partisan thing. But then, politicians can still take advantage of it. You know, protests that will lead to destruction of scarce infrastructures. I will not support that. Protests that will lead to the killing of police personnel like it happened during the #EndSARS saga. I will not support protests that will lead to destruction. But everything in society is evolving, not static. So, we should look at the best way to effect protests and reduce the damages that usually go with protests in Nigeria. For instance what I’m doing here is a form of protest, and it’s effective and it does not do any damage to society.”
The legal practitioner said the genesis of the protests bordered on conspicuous corruption among government officials both at the federal and state levels; some cases of alleged serious frauds and fraudulent enrichment; high cost of living; very low incentives for medium and small scale industries; oil and gas and maritime impact on economy; as well as youth restiveness and unemployment.
However, he said the solutions to the current situation are that the federal government should make populist policies that are self executory; support Dangote refinery which he said would contribute more than 30 percent to the nation’s economy by creating thousands of job along value chains; support the local framer; and tackle the insecurity on the country.
He was of the view that the protests will not last the ten days as pronounced by the organisers, saying more than 40 percent of Nigerians cannot wait for so long as they depend on a daily job for their survival.