#EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos State Announces Plan for October 1 Protest
On Thursday September 26, the #EndBadGovernance movement in Lagos State addressed a press conference to intimate the general public about the details of a mass protest scheduled for Tuesday 1st October 2024 and tagged “National Day of Survival”. Take-off point in Lagos is Ikeja Under Bridge by 7:30am.
Below is the text read at the press conference
WE URGE THE NIGERIAN WORKING PEOPLE, YOUTH AND POOR TO COME OUT EN MASSE IN PEACEFUL PROTEST ON OCTOBER 1ST, 2024 – A DAY OF NATIONAL SURVIVAL
We would like to commence this press conference by expressing our profound gratitude to the ladies and gentlemen of the press for your role in standing by and reporting the truth during the August 1-10 #EndBadGovernance protest. Your courageous action in those ten days stand as a beacon of hope in these very dark tempestuous times in the history of our dear nation, Nigeria. We also thank the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and all the lawyers who have been offering pro bono legal services to support our struggle and in the cause of defending thousands of protesters in detention and standing trial across the country.
We are here once again to invite you on another journey to redeem our nation as we continue to stand against all the anti-poor policies and programmes of the regime that are orchestrated to impoverish our people despite the abundance of wealth to make life easy and more rewarding for all citizens of our dear country. As is obvious to everyone, none of the demands of our ten days of rage in August has been met. Rather President Bola Ahmed Tinubu simply went ahead to use our national treasury to procure luxury cars, aircraft and other luxuries for himself and the first family without caring a hoot about the plea of hungry Nigerians. To show the absolute disdain that the Federal Government holds the people, Tinubu has gone ahead to now unleash on the Nigerian another round of hike in fuel price earlier this month.
As we speak, price of fuel hovers between N900 per litre to N1900 per liter depending on which parts of the country you are. Meanwhile less than two years ago, a liter of fuel did not cost more than N200 per litre. This is outrageous. This is intolerable. As a direct consequence of this increment, life has become unbearable for many Nigerian people. Many are starving as the increase in fuel price has also impacted food prices. Inflation has rendered the N70, 000 new National Minimum wage irrelevant and incapable of bringing any relief to Nigerian workers. At the same time, the sharp rise in the cost of imported goods has rendered traders and shopkeepers redundant as shops are overflowing with goods that no one is ready to buy. The situation has also affected businesses and industries. Nothing less than ten multinational firms have left the shores of Nigeria between May last year leading to even more job losses.
Based on the foregoing, we of the #EndBadGovernance Movement have decided to declare October 1st 2024 as “National Day of Survival”. On this day, we call on the Nigerian people, workers, students, youth, the unemployed, traders and the poor to come out in peaceful protest and demonstrations against the excruciating condition of hardship, poverty and hunger imposed on us by President Tinubu’s decision to implement IMF/World Bank-inspired anti-poor capitalist policies of fuel price hike, electricity tariff hike, school fees hike, and naira devaluation. We also call on the Nigerian people to utilize this day to demand with one voice the immediate and unconditional release of all #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance protesters in police and prison custodies as well as freedom for detained journalists, whistleblowers, activists and all victims of state repression.
There are several reasons we decided to name October 1st a “National Day of Survival”.
- The first reason is that whereas every October 1st is a day to celebrate national independence, we do not think our country has anything to celebrate this year. Nigerians are neither happy nor free after 64 years of political independence from Colonial Britain. Rather, the Nigerian working masses are poor, hungry and hardly surviving. Since coming to power, the Tinubu regime has imposed unprecedented hardship on millions of Nigerians and pushed them into multi-dimensional poverty and monumental misery. Many working families are at the point of starvation. Several people have lost their jobs. The middle class has been destroyed. The rate of suicide is increasing. Despite this, President Tinubu continues to drive forward these criminal anti-people policies. Petrol price is now four times higher than it was in May 29, last year. On this basis, we believe October 1st should be a day for all suffering Nigerian people, workers, youth and poor masses to come together to begin to fight for our survival by demanding an end to all the anti-poor policies that have made our lives miserable.
- Secondly, Nigeria’s 64th independence anniversary is coming at a period when our country’s hard-won civil rule is no more distinguishable from military rule, when democracy now looks like despotism, the judiciary is captured, the citizens are enslaved while a simple exercise of the freedom to protest is deemed treasonable. As far as we are concerned, rather than celebrate, October 1st should be a day to fight for the survival of democratic rights and the dignity of the Nigerian people in the face of the rampaging onslaught of President Tinubu’s government which has employed brutal and repressive measures to quell any opposition to his polices. Basic civil liberties, like freedom of expression, association and lawful assembly, that usually distinguishes free citizens from slaves, are now largely absent in our country. For instance, 10 young Nigerians and activists have been charged with treason and may face the death penalty if found guilty just because they displayed placards saying “End Bad Government” during the #EndBadGovernance protest in August. Also despite that the Federal High Court, FCT Abuja gave them bail since 11 September, a majority of the activists continue to languish in Kuje prison where they are being held due to the onerous conditionalities attached to their bail. So in a sense, Nigerians are not much better off today than the darks days of military dictatorship and this is why we believe that October 1st should be a day for the Nigerian people to collectively demand an end to attack on democratic rights and criminalization of protest.
So in a nutshell, these, and many more, are the reasons we have named October 1st a “National Day of Survival”. It is a day for the Nigerian people to come together at barricades across the country to reflect on the journey of nationhood so far and take a decision on how to rescue our country from the condition of mass poverty in the midst of abundance. Here in Lagos, our peaceful protest march will take place as follows:
- DATE: Tuesday 1st October 2024
- TAKE OFF POINT: Ikeja under bridge. From there we shall march round several roads and streets of Lagos to sensitize the long-suffering people of Lagos.
- TIME: 7:30 am.
By this announcement, we are informing the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State of our planned October action. We are also by this means informing the Police of its obligation under Section 83 (4) of the Police Establishment Act 2020 which imposes a duty on the Nigeria Police Force to provide adequate security for citizens who may wish to participate in public meetings, rallies and protests.
We hereby call on the Nigerian people, progressive organisations, community groups, trade unions, students unions, youth groups to come out massively on October 1st in peaceful protest and demonstration. The October 1st action is a warning and an urgent cry to the Tinubu administration to address our demands immediately. Unless our demands are met, more protests will follow the “National Day of Survival”.
CARDINAL DEMANDS:
- Say no to IMF neo-liberal policies. Reverse hike in fuel price and electricity tariff back to pre-May 29, 2023 level. Make government-owned refineries work to guarantee affordable fuel products.
- Reduce food prices and end hunger. Support farmers to ensure sustainable food production.
- End insecurity, banditry, terrorism and violent crimes. Prosecute culprits and their sponsors. For a robust security architecture and adequate support for soldiers at the front and their families.
- Release Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande and all #EndBadGovernance protesters, activists, journalists, whistleblowers and other victims of state repression unconditionally.
- Implement N70, 000 new National Minimum wage at all levels. For a real living wage now.
- Reduce the cost of governance. Place all political office holders on the minimum wage. Scrap security vote and constituency allowances.
- Provide free and compulsory primary and secondary education for all Nigerian children. Reduce tertiary education school fees. Give Nigerian students grant and not loans.
- Immediate prosecution and jailing of all corrupt politicians, judges, police, public servants and state officials.
- Massive investment in public works, social infrastructure and industrialization to create decent jobs for all.
- Genuine electoral reform. For independent candidature, diaspora voting and a truly independent electoral body.
CONCLUSION
One lesson that the past 64 years of Nigeria’s existence has proven is that there can be no progress when a society is run to enrich a few at the expense of the mass majority. As things are today, the problem of Nigeria is not the absence of the resources to make life better for all. Rather, what is happening is that a majority of Nigerian people are wallowing in poverty despite the abundance of wealth to make lives better for them. At the moment, over 80 percent of Nigeria’s wealth has been stolen by just one percent of the population thereby subjecting the vast majority of the population to a life of toil and suffering.
We need a different way of running our country – one that ensures that the country’s wealth goes to meeting the needs of all and not the greed of a few. This is our own definition of good governance. This how we end poverty and hunger. This is how we can rescue Nigeria and restore its lost glory.
Signed.
Hassan Taiwo Soweto – National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
Oloye Adegboyega Adeniji – Chairman, Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC)
Francis Nwapa – National Secretary, Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)
Abiodun Aremu – Secretary, Joint Action Front (JAF)
Adebayo Adedeji – Member, Leadership Council, Movement for African Emancipation (MAE)
Temitope Fagunwa – Co-founder, Pan-African Consciousness
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