June 12 Anniversary: Tinubu Government Has Failed and Nothing to Celebrate

Mass Actions Needed to Fight Insecurity and Economic Hardship.

For a Mass Working People’s Political Alternative.

June 12 is officially “Democracy Day”. Truly the day signifies the struggle of the Nigerian people for the enthronement of democratic rule with the hope for a better Nigeria. But for the vast majority of the working people and youth, since the return of civilian rule, there is nothing to celebrate especially in terms of decent standards of living as a result of the neo-liberal and capitalist policies of the successive governments. The primitive and corrupt ruling elite fail to use human and material resources, which Nigeria is endowed with, for the benefit of the majority. At the same time, they fail to resolve the ethnic and religious division but rather in most cases exploit it for their own self-serving interest. All these have contributed to creating an enabling condition, like unemployment and other economic crises, for the insecurity that is getting deeper and metastasizing every year. Worse, largely as a result of the endemic corruption, government at all levels and security agencies have not been able to tackle the crisis head-on.

Therefore, as a result of the failure of the government, currently, thousands of Nigerians are in captivity of different bandits, terrorists and other criminal elements across the country. They include 46 teachers and students kidnapped at three schools in Oyo state and over 40 students in Borno. Indeed, there are victims and survivors in virtually every part of the country. Thousands have died and many more have been displaced. Highways have become dens of criminals. Farms have been abandoned by many. In many communities, people live with daily fear of attacks. Schools are not safe for students and teachers.

Worse still, for the vast majority, the crisis is double whammy. We face the monster of insecurity and at the same time our living standards have been devastated as a result of the anti-poor capitalist policies of the Tinubu government. Recently, an IMF report on Nigeria began by stating that last year “63 percent” of Nigerians were in “poverty”.

Working people and youth, we cannot hold our hands akimbo, resigning to fate. We have to learn the lessons of the past mass struggles. We have to continue to struggle to force the government at all levels to seriously address the crisis of insecurity and resist the policies causing economic hardship.  The working people and youth have demonstrated in the past through struggle against military rule, January 2012 mass protests, #EndSars, #EndBadGovernance and other protest actions that we are prepared to resist anti-poor policies and attacks on democratic rights despite an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that has been created by different governments.

On insecurity, in addition to a consistent demand on the government at all levels to protect lives and property of the people, we also call on working people to set up in communities multi-ethnic, multi-religious and non-sectarian defence and security committees which are democratically run and subject to control of the community people.

This year’s nationwide June 12 protest with “No Democracy Without Security” as a main slogan is one of the actions needed to register our firm objection to the prevailing state of affairs on security and economy and fight for real change. And, it must not be one-off. We call on working people and youth to massively join any subsequent protest or action called. We can also organize ourselves in communities and workplaces and linked up at state levels and nationally.

We call on trade unions, especially the NLC and TUC, following the June 12 protest, to declare and campaign for a 48-hour general strike and mass protest as a first step. The seemingly intractable nature of the crisis as a result of the failure of the government underscores why it is urgent that the labour movement seriously acts to unite and mobilise the working people to fight for concrete change. Outside the trade union movement, left, civil society and pro-masses organisations have to continue to organize the working people and youth for mass resistance.

Very importantly, one lesson that must be learned from the failure of the successive governments to guarantee security and use human and material resources of the country for the benefit of the vast majority is the need for a party of the working people. Such a party, if armed with a socialist program, can form a government that will ensure the needs of the vast majority, not greed or profit-first interest of few, are the basis of economy and governance.

By and large, we call on the working people and youth to join with the Democratic Socialist Movement in supporting and fighting for the following demands:

• Free all abducted children and teachers. Release all captives now!
• For a non-sectarian and democratically run security/defence committee in communities
• Probe security votes. End insecurity now
• Reverse all anti-poor policies. For a living wage and decent jobs for the working people and youth
• For a mass working people’s party with socialist program with which to begin the reconstruction of Nigeria in the interests of working people and their families
• For a 48-hour general strike as the next step after June 12 protests

Join us

If you are interested in fighting against anti-poor policies and for democratic rights, a better society and socialist change, Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) is an organisation to join.

Tel: 08053045953, 0703 377 551717

Email: [email protected]

Leaflet by the Democratic Socialist Movement for circulation at June 12 protests