The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Olohundare, has commended Nigerians, especially Lagosians, for peacefully rallying.
The CP had deployed security officers to strategic locations such as Lekki Tollgate, Ikeja Underbridge, Maryland, and Ojota to beef up security.
Speaking with The Guardian in Ojota, the CP said: “I met with 15 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involved in the protest, and the focus was to ensure that there’s peace and orderliness; one of the essentials of democracy is freedom of expression, which everyone must be allowed to exercise.
“Democracy Day is a day of jubilation. Thousands of Nigerians came out to appreciate what the Federal Government is doing to better the lives of Nigerians, including security-wise.
“We provided protection for the protesters and those jubilating, so we are under obligation to ensure the security of everyone. We did massive deployment to Lekki Tollgate, and the place is peaceful, same in Maryland, Ikeja, and Ojota. We want Lagosians and visitors to the state to know that Lagos is peaceful, and aside from ensuring safety for those protesting and those celebrating, we still ensure the protection of other millions of Nigerians who are hosting public lectures, at home, and others to mark June 12.
“We appreciate those celebrating in their thousands, and we equally appreciate those who protested in their numbers for maintaining law and order and making sure that their conduct does not obstruct the means of livelihood of other Nigerians.”
In their demand, members of Youths Rights Campaign and the Take It Back Movement demanded accountability from the government over Nigeria’s failing education system, hunger, hardship, and unemployment.
They lamented the report of the National Universities Commission (NUC), which stated that Nigeria’s higher institutions are grappling with a significant capacity issue, as the country’s higher institutions—both public and private—can only accommodate 700,000 students yearly against the two million students who buy JAMB forms in search of higher education.
National Coordinator of Youth Rights Campaign, Michael Adaramoye Lenin, said: “What this means is that the government already knows the capacity of our higher institutions but still goes ahead to exploit an additional 1.3 million students of hard-earned money annually through JAMB just to generate revenue. What we then ask is: Are examinations for testing the academic performance of students or for making money?
“Aside from this, the dilapidated state of our higher institutions is equally worrisome. According to a UNICEF report, Nigeria has about 18.3 million out-of-school children. This number is above the population of the entire Netherlands. These are an army of children that will be exploited by non-state actors and criminal networks to cause havoc across the country.
“While Nigeria finds itself in this terrible state, the capitalist ruling elite send their children abroad using looted public funds. Currently, the Nigerian APC Government under President Tinubu introduced a loan scheme instead of funding education to the tune of 26% budgetary allocation as recommended by UNESCO.
Several older generations of Nigerians, including those in government today, benefited from publicly funded and highly subsidized public education in the past but have today denied our generation free education.
“Unfortunately, those who manage to go through all of these education barriers and graduate are not guaranteed employment, as the government has completely abandoned its responsibility to provide employment for the populace.
All government-owned state enterprises, which were equally sources of gainful employment in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s, have been deliberately run down and fraudulently sold to politicians and their foreign businessmen in the name of privatization. Today, youth unemployment is over 56%. Nigerian youths graduate from universities to become POS vendors, okada riders, and other menial workers just to survive daily.”
