Activists mobilise for Oct. 1 protest, list expectations from Tinubu

Lagos State chapter of the #EndBadGovernance Movement has called on Nigerian masses, including workers, youths and the poor, to come out en-masse on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, to join the peaceful protest against hunger and hardship in the country, tagged “National Day of Survival.”

The activists, led by the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Hassan Soweto, during a media briefing, yesterday, at the International Press Centre, Ogba, Lagos, listed 10 ‘cardinal demands’ the President Bola Tinubu-led government must address immediately to assuage the angst of Nigerians.

Other activists that anchored the event include Chairman, Movement for Fundamental Change (MFC), Adegboyega Adeniji; National Secretary, Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Francis Nwapa; Secretary, Joint Action Front (JAF), Abiodun Aremu; Co-founder, Pan-African Consciousness Renaissance (PACOR-Nigeria), Temitope Fagunwa, among others.

They urged the government to “say no to the neo-liberal policies of International Monetary Fund (IMF), reverse fuel price and electricity tariff to pre-May 29, 2023 level, make government-owned refineries work to guarantee affordable petroleum products, reduce food prices and hunger and support farmers to ensure sustainable food production.”

Also included in the demand list is the unconditional release of Michael Adaramoye (Lenin), SodiqMosiu, Daniel Akande and all #EndBadGovernance protesters, activists, journalists, whistleblowers and other victims of state repression.

Soweto said: “We, hereby, call on the Nigerian people, progressive organisations, community groups, trade unions, student unions and youth groups to come out massively on October 1 in peaceful protest and demonstration. The October 1 action is a warning and urgent cry to the Tinubu administration to address our demands immediately. Unless our demands are met, more protests will follow the ‘National Day of Survival’.

“We need a different way of running our country – one that ensures that the country’s wealth goes to the needs of all and not the greed of a few. This is our definition of good governance. This is how we can end poverty and hunger. This is how we can rescue Nigeria and restore its lost glory.”

The activists did not leave out the tackling of insecurity and prosecution of the sponsors in their cardinal demands. They urged the authorities to emplace a robust security architecture and adequate support for soldiers at the front and their families.

Other demands include the implementation of the new minimum wage of N70,000 at all levels and reduction of the huge governance cost, by placing political office holders on the same wage as other public servants.