Labour, civil society advocate continuous agitation for change in governance

The organised labour and members of civil society groups, have advocated peaceful agitation, centered on change, peaceful revolutions and governance overhaul as key to the much-needed change Nigerians are yearning for.

The groups, comprising human rights activists, community-based organisations, students, academics, doctors, internationalists and artisans, said that it is important for Nigerians to understand the role these agitations would play in providing solution to Nigeria’s problems.

They noted that the wrong use of the country’s resources has only contributed to the hardship facing the masses, adding that 57 years after independence, there were very few good roads, healthcare structures, electricity, employment, and security. They stated that the country was ridden with economic crises.

Speaking at the National Discourse titled: “Economic crises and ethnic secession, restructuring or system change,” organised by the Joint Front Action (JFA), at the NLC Lagos secretariat in Yaba, Lagos, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Lagos State University (LASU) Chairman Isaac Oyewumi said labour needed to be prepared if it was truly in need of change.

He said: “We need to sit down and ask ourselves questions and determine the way forward on how to solve our problems. What we need is continuous non-violence agitation until we achieve our dream.

”In terms of mismanagement of our resources, it is the common man that suffers the hardship. The ordinary man on the street, workers, community members, artisans, among others, need to feel the impact of the government.

Today, there is no steady electricity supply in the country and many other problems; so, I believe it is time for us to take our destiny in our hands.”

Mr. Ikechukwu Ikeji of the Constitutional Right and Peoples Development Advocacy Initiative (CRAI) said what Nigerians needed was change and not restructuring, lamenting that because there were no healthcare structures, political leaders travelled abroad for medication instead of patronising local heath care institutions.

He called for a new code of conduct for elected officials, where they would be compelled to patronise local services and public utilities, such as medical and educational facilities, among others, instead of going abroad.

“We call for a new law to make it compulsory for every public officer, elected or appointed, to use hospitals in Nigeria for all ailments and to send their children and wards to only Nigerian schools.”

Ikeji noted that there was high level corruption in Nigeria among the so-called cabals, who have been sharing, the collective patrimony and commonwealth among themselves.

“We therefore, insist on equitable distribution of same among Nigerians,” he said.

Ikeji stated that the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was fraught with irregularities, adding that, “We insist that any genuine change in Nigeria will have to start from correcting the fraud inherent in the Constitution,

such as not being autochhonous and lacking the imprimatur of the people it seems to constitute. We call for a pure and unadulterated people’s constitution that will be subject to a genuine process of referendum,” he said.