As anxiety grips the nation on a possible mass protest tagged #EndBadGovernance on August 1 by some aggrieved Nigerians, the federal government has been advised to swiftly move in by engaging Nigerians in conversation, on specific policies it had undertaken to revamp the economy.
The advice was given over the weekend by a human rights activist and National Convener of Social Rehabilitation Gruppe (SRG), Dr. Marindoti Oludare.
Oludare, a Nigeria-born United States-based medic, gave the admonition while speaking in an interview session on Television Continental (TVC).
“This planned protest was always bound to happen. I believe the administration had walked a very long and dreary road to this place by doing two things and it has nothing to do with the removal of fuel subsidy, (which in the real sense has not been removed) and the floating of the exchange rate.
“First thing is they allowed hunger to fester in the land for too long, and secondly, they have not done enough to explain what they are doing to the Nigerian people.
He recalled that he had been persistent in warning the government through the media not to allow the apparent hunger in the country to persist for too long by ending food protectionism lest they invite unrest that’ll make their tenure untenable.
Government’s failure to act in time, he stressed, had gifted the opposition an opportunity to grift off of the people’s despair while condemning federal government’s policies.
Oludare, however, commended the federal government on its recent approval of duty-free food importation for 150-days to save the situation, but noted that the positive effect of the decision on the masses would still take time, and that government should act fast to explain this to the people.
“Government should have taken this decision long before now, but as it is, people have been left hungry for too long and they want to take to the streets in despair.
“The first time I wrote on this was seven days after the President got inaugurated last year, that they (the federal government) should end food protectionism, as a hungry man, as they say, is an angry man and anger boils over.”
The activist added that though President Bola Tinubu said fuel subsidy was gone for good, but that the first direct evidence that subsidy was still being paid was released to Nigerians by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, recently.
“When they were negotiating before the conclusion on N70,000, he (Ajaero) said the President said, ‘Allow me to increase the fuel price so I can meet your minimum wage salary demand of N250,000’ and he said no,” Oludare buttressed.
He demurred, however, that what had been responsible for the ongoing economic strain is the floating of the exchange rate and that the onus is on the administration to let the people know the true position of things and reason why they should persevere.
He clarified, saying a regime of double exchange rates only benefits the rich as they are the ones buying the dollar. Consequently, the government is deprived of resources to spend for the poor.
According to him, by the current unification of the exchange rate, hitherto disadvantaged entrepreneurs would have access to funds to thrive in their businesses, the government will bandwidth to invest in education, health, good infrastructure and amenities to bring good quality of life to the people, thus having positive, multiplier effects on the economy.
“This is what the federal government should have explained to the people, that it will take some time for all these reform measures to bear fruit, and then, they should have long relaxed stringent measures on food importation,” he stressed.
He also applauded the president for having the courage to unify the exchange rate at great cost to his own personal self. He said the president as a wealthy man lost more money that majority of Nigerian billionaires, hence should be applauded for great personal sacrifice he made for the survival of the Nigerian economy.
