NYCN warns against protests, flays fuel, Naira crisis

Group demands urgent intervention before elections

Chairman of National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Lagos State chapter, Biliamin Sulaimon-Oba, has advised youths against engaging in any protest that can disrupt the election, asking them to shun all forms of violence during the polls.

Speaking at a press briefing, yesterday, Sulaimon-Oba, who frowned on the fuel and Naira crises, said NYCN held the briefing to make known to government the effect of poor implementation of its policies.

His words: “It is no gainsaying that the nation is in serious economic and social trauma. Our current situation is nothing but the adverse effect of not adequately considering the ordinary Nigerians and not taking into consideration the aftermath of every policy implementation.

“NYCN, Lagos Chapter, frowns on any protest capable of being hijacked by hoodlums and perpetrators of evil, to avoid the repeat of the horrible experience of the EndSARs protests.”

He charged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Dr. Mahmood Yakoub, and his team to ensure peaceful and credible elections.

“The teeming youth populace is implored to be civil by shunning all forms of violence during and after the election. They should not be tools in the hands of troublemakers, but should conduct themselves in a non-violent manner and cast their votes peacefully.”

Also, Youth Awake Now (YAN) urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to reissue the old notes in large quantity to the Nigerian economy to curb scarcity.

The South West group also urged the Federal Government to order the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to immediately clear the bottlenecks around petroleum supply chains with military dispatch.

Representatives of the group, including Eric Oluwole (Yoruba Youth Leader), Lekan Wilki Yoruba (Youth Alliance), Abiodun Rosanwo (Yoruba Youth Community Policing), Adewale Adeyemo (Yoruba Afenifere Youths) and Yinka Adedugbe (Congress of Yoruba Youths), called for urgent normalisation of all petroleum supply chains through which petroleum products get to consumers.

They expressed optimism that if the twin problem of scarcity of fuel and cash were addressed, normalcy would return speedily to the economy, while government would have succeeded in averting any threat to the successful conduct of the general elections.

“Ahead of the 2023 general elections, youth leaders in the South West are getting concerned about the building momentum, lingering crisis over the biting scarcity of the new Naira notes and fuel. The bottled-up anger and the threat of violence being unleashed due to frustrations being experienced, the youths cannot continue with this hardship in our region.

“We feel saddened by the prevailing conditions in which Nigerians generally in recent weeks have been forced to eke out a living, compelled to do so by the artificial scarcity of cash due to the hasty and untidy implementation of the currency redesign policy, currency swap and cashless policies by the CBN as approved by the Federal Government,” they added.