The lawmaker representing Kwara North Senatorial District, Sadiq Suleiman Umar, has called on Nigerian youths to embrace dialogue and shelve the planned nationwide protest.
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In a statement in Moro, the lawmaker, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industry, Trade and Investment, stated that the demonstration would ground commercial activities and further cripple the economy. He argued that the country was yet to fully recover from the ruins of COVID-19 that later resulted in global recession.

The legislator, while acknowledging that the current inflation and high prices of commodities have inflicted untold hardship on Nigerians and households, noted: “It is true that expressing displeasure with some policies of the government through protest deepens democracy, but we should not forget that a hijacked and violent protest will further plunge, aggravate and worsen Nigeria’s economy.” 

He added: “Taming the tide of hunger, inflation and hardship shouldn’t take a violent form. Recommending representatives through various interest groups to have an interface with the government could be a sound alternative. And our youths should remember that they’re the leaders of tomorrow, and any attempt to engage in wanton and gratuitous vandalisation of government properties through hijacked protest will further cripple the economy and add to the burden of the government at any level.” Umar, therefore, appealed to Nigerian youths to come to the table and engage government constructively. 

RELATEDLY, a financial management expert and lecturer in Banking and Finance at the University of Abuja (UniAbuja), Dr. Adelodun Sadraq , has warned against implications of the protests on the nation’s fragile economy, stating that the demonstrations would have negative effects on the country’s economic growth.
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According to him, no strike in Nigeria’s history has ever conferred any financial benefit on the country’s economic development. Sadraq spoke yesterday in Abuja while reacting to the proposed exercise over hardship in the land. 
 
He said: “It’s true average Nigerians are surviving on low income and daily earnings. The likes of transport workers, artisans, okada/tricycle riders, food vendors, hawkers, shops owners, petty traders and many others. 

“The inability of any of the business class to operate or function in a day is going to hamper the survival of their various family members and the multiplying effects on the health or wellness of their various family members.

“With the benefit of hindsight, the planned protests for 10 days will be counter-productive. It will deal a devastating blow on Nigeria’s fragile economy that the present administration is trying to rebuild. 
 
“Stakeholders should know that public protest in all the 36 states of the federation and in public highways, as well as other areas of public access for 10 days, is a deliberate plan to shut down the country, and if this is allowed, it will amount to economic sabotage and spell disaster for the country
 
“I will like to encourage the protesters to table their requests or suggest possible solutions to the current hardship in the country. It’s obvious that the economic hardship is global. Let me also state that it is the legitimate right of citizens to embark on a peaceful protest. The question is: Can the handlers or arrowheads guarantee a peaceful protest? 
 
“This planned protest will inflict more hardship and pain on the populace and set the country backward in terms of billions of Naira loss daily that is inevitable by government and individuals whose means of livelihood depends solely on daily transactions.” 
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