#EndSARS Protest: What APC govt must do — DG PGF
By Tunde Opalana
As the #EndSARS protesters continue to occupy major streets of Nigerian cities in condemnation of certain social and security policies of the Federal Government, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Director General, Progressive Governors Forum, Dr.Salihu Lukman has charged the leadership of the APC-led government on how to stem the unrest, Daily Times gathered.
Lukman, in a position which does not represent the view of any APC Governor or the Progressive Governors Forum said the ongoing protest is a clarion call on political leaders in APC to respond to growing demands both within the party and by Nigerians to ensure that the progressive credentials of APC is oriented based on commitment to promote radical politics.
In a statement on Sunday, the Director General, even advised the protesting youth not to fail to convert the current protest to opportunity for access to political leadership responsibility, else, the resourcefulness they exhibited during this protest will be wasted.
He stated that the ongoing protest is beyond the problems of SARS, although it is the trigger, stresding that the protesters are demanding for the reform of Nigeria.
“The current protest around #EndSARS is a proof that Nigerian youth are troubled, and they are at the receiving end of all the trouble our country is facing. In many respects, the protests highlighted deficit in terms of government initiatives meeting the expectations of Nigerian young people. Such deficit could emanate from poor communication strategy.
“Without doubt, the current ongoing youth protest across the country, calling for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police otherwise popularly known as #EndSARS protest, highlight some levels of citizens’ frustration, especially by our young people in relation to engaging initiatives of government aimed at resolving our societal problems.
“The protest and its popularity among our young people are indication of the urgency for our politics to become more responsive and oriented to attract wider citizens’ participation”.
Lukman, therefore, strongly appealed to political leaders to kindly respond to the protest by fundamentally taking the necessary steps to accelerate the process of reforming the implementation of especially government welfare initiatives.
On how can government win the trust and confidence of our young people and get them to vacate the streets, he said there is the need for government to immediately review implementation of welfare initiatives and ensure provision of specific packages targeting young people, in addition to meeting the specific demands of the #EndSARS protests
Charging the leadership of the party and by extension, the government, the Director General said “our party, APC, and our leaders should be able to provide the needed leadership, which cannot be easily determined with reference to for or against the protest by young people.
“It must be based on honest recognition of the problem and therefore ensuring that our party and our leaders are genuinely committed for open engagement with our young people to solve the problem.
“Accordingly, consideration should be given to create some employment opportunities at Federal and state levels for young people. In addition to employment opportunity, some credit facilities to support business initiatives of young people should be introduced. Whether through Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or special arrangement, a coordinating structure involving the representatives of young people should be established to administer implementation of the credit scheme.
“Specific to the protest by our young people, to end the protest will require that at the highest level, perhaps the President, government should make special announcement making all the offers, which cover how government intend to meet the demands of the protesters.
“The announcement should come with special appeal to young people and invite them to nominate representatives for engagement towards implementation. The process of getting the nomination of the young people should be carefully and transparently handled.
“The government announcement therefore should appeal to the young people to allow a period of at least one week to ensure that appropriate mechanism is put in place towards implementation of government initiatives to resolve the problems. Within the period, the protesting young people should suspend the protest.
“As a party, we should take steps to harvest all the goodwill that we have. This is in fact the point when APC should be able to demonstrate its political sophistication. If there is any point when our national reality present APC and our leaders with the opportunity to demonstrate commitment to bring about change in the country, the protest by our young people present an opportunity.
“It is such a defining opportunity that must be handled with caution as it can potentially consolidate or completely erode APC’s electoral advantages especially with 2023 in the horizon.
“As a party, therefore, APC must resist the lazy approach to present the protest as being influenced by political opponents. Even if political opponents are to take advantage, it will be on account of our failings as a party”.
He warned that the days ahead will be decisive in determining whether the leadership of the party can take steps to affirm the credentials of APC as a party committed to social change.
“The ability of our leaders to develop sophisticated structures and strategy, which can earn the trust and confidence of our protesting young people is facing a big challenge”, he concluded.
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