As the federal government of Nigeria (FGN) intensifies its efforts to avert the looming protest over bad governance and a high cost of living, the leadership has continued to open areas of opportunities that have been locked or considered exclusive preserves of the ‘rich and connected in decades.
Nigerian activists and youth have been looking to emulate youth-led protests elsewhere in Africa which have rocked the government in Kenya and prompted a tough security response in Uganda, reports Reuters.
Besides the new N70,000 minimum wage, which was passed in a jiffy by our highly “considerate’ Senate, billions of naira worth of grants and scholarships being dished out, the country is now offering its young people jobs in the most lucrative state-oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, among other incentives to discourage the action.
Specifically, NNPCL,which, had in seven years ago, warned job seekers against falling prey to fraudulent messages about job placements in the company, published on Friday nationwide job vacancies in a post on X for the first time in nearly some decades.
The state oil company even acknowledged a flood of applications, which led to the crashing of its website, offering explanations and promising reactivation.
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Nigeria’s ministry of youth development on Friday also relaunched a 110 billion naira ($70 million) youth investment fund that was started in 2020, aimed at providing grants to Nigeria’s youth to generate jobs.
According to Reuters, the youth ministry had said in May it would revive the programme but little had been heard about it until Friday.
To many stakeholders, the proposed August 1-10 protest is the most successful in recent history of Nigeria
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According to them, for an event yet to happen to have garnered such awareness and engineered alot of promises and actions’ should be considered ‘successful.’
Beside the restlessness and ‘confessions’ by some politicians and government elected and appointed officials so as to continue with financial impunity, Abuja, the seat of power became a ‘Mecca or Jerusalem’ of some sort to traditional and religious leaders, who became ’emergency spokespersons ‘ for the government, looking for solutions to the umpasse.
”It will amount to an anticlimax for the event to happen this week given the level of ‘new apostles and converted democrat as well as repentant socialists”, says stakeholder, who pleaded for anonymity.
According to another stakeholder, “the intent and purposes,largely, may have been achieved. What remains for the president is to walk the talk and sin no more.”
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Nigerians are organising online for nationwide protests, begining Thursday, August 1, in response to a cost of living crisis that has seen inflation rise to a 28-year-high of 34.2% which followed President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidies and a currency devaluation.
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Religious clerics, traditional rulers and other prominent Nigerians have joined the government in discouraging young people from embarking on the protests, fearing Kenya-style protests will wreak havoc on the economy.
The government has sought more time to end hardships and both the police and army leadership have warned against the protests, saying they could get out of control.
Protesters have said they have a right to peaceful demonstrations, calling the government’s warnings of violence a smokescreen for a potential crackdown on the organisers and political enemies’.
