Counting our blessings from the protests 

Counting our blessings from the protests 

By Kunle Oyatomi

Many are wont to mourn and count their losses after a period of hostilities, conflict or bitter experience, such as Nigeria witnessed during the 10-day #EndBadGovernance protests nationwide. Well, I’m going to disappoint the reader who thinks I’ll be following that beaten track. I’m going to be like our leader, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who as he addressed his compatriots during the crisis, saw nothing but hope and fulfillment of collective dreams at the end of it all, despite the destruction and deaths that accompanied the wild riots, especially in parts of the north. Of course there were losses. I’m not ignorant about that. I can’t be like the ostrich which erroneously assumed that because it hid its head in the sea sand, all else about its body was also hidden. Wrong. I’m also not saying that we didn’t suffer casualties; but it’s turning out that from these losses, we’ve secured great gain. 

 My first insight into hope ahead came from my study of the president’s widely publicized Radio-TV address while the protests raged. He said: ’’My dear Nigerians, especially our youth, I have heard you loud and clear. I understand the pain and frustration that drive these protests, and I want to assure you that our government is committed to listening and addressing the concerns of our citizens…But we must not let violence tear our nation…Under the circumstances, I hereby enjoin protesters and the organisers to suspend any further protest and create room for dialogue, which I have always acceded to at the slightest opportunity. Nigeria requires all hands on deck and needs us all – regardless of age, party, tribe, religion or other divides, to work together in reshaping our destiny as a nation.’’ Later, the Federal Government was, through the Minister of Industry, Trade and investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka Anite, to lead us into the depth of what the nation lost to the ‘we’re hungry’ demonstrations. She declared: ‘’The loss of lives during the protests is saddening. My thoughts are with the families affected. The looting, resulting in billions lost, is a severe setback for our economy and entrepreneurs.’’ 

The Minister said Nigeria lost an estimated N500b to the crisis. Going into a few specifics, Anite said in her official X handle: ‘’…around N52 billion worth of goods were destroyed while the death toll from the protest… (was)21.” No doubt, these are grievously humongous human and economic bereavements. But, as I said at the opening of this piece, I’d not be bogged down by them; we should rather move on, encouraged by what began to emerge after the so-called days of rage. Events moved at a faster pace than the speed of the demonstrators and their sponsors.

These developments represent gains we can’t overlook. They amount to gains we must reckon with, because they far outweigh the losses. They point to a threshold of hope. Quickly, the Tinubu Administration rolled out a 10-fold initiative that gave us a silver lining at the end of what looked like a dark tunnel. These included the Student Loan, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Initiative, Micro and Small Business Loans, Housing Initiatives, Nano-Business, and Skill-Up Artisans Programme, (SUPA). What do we discern from these projects? They target the youth and the deprived of society. In a word, they are addressing the same challenges our young people were impatiently warring against. These were not just idle propositions by the Tinubu government. Not at all, because the CNG project has since been launched by the president. 

He has just inaugurated 30 CNG buses with 3000-passenger capacity. How about the Student Loans Scheme? It has also come into effect. Only days ago, the media was awash with reports that our universities have been receiving tens of millions of naira from the federal authorities being disbursement of the loans. Now, you’d be wondering if the government hasn’t handled the issues of insecurity and food shortages. It has. The government has deployed 10000 security operatives to protect farmers from hoodlums who invade their lands and hinder productivity, thus denying the society from the benefits of food production. 

These protectors of our farmers are to operate all over the federation. Still on crime, news has just reached Nigerians that the central government, through the National Orientation Agency, NOA, has developed an application known as Mobiliser meant for youths to report crimes and criminality in their areas within their comfort zones. NOA DG, Issa Lanre-Oniru said the project has a two-fold agenda: to enable the youth have a sense of belonging and to engage them in the war against insecurity. The federal government of Bola Tinubu has also quickly moved to reverse the migration of Nigeria’s health workers to the Western Hemisphere. 

Tinubu just approved the National Policy on Health Workforce Migration to contain the challenges facing the country’s human resources in the healthcare system. The government said ‘’the policy is more than just a response to the ongoing exodus of healthcare professionals but a comprehensive strategy to manage, harness, and reverse health worker migration.’’ The Tinubu administration has also cast its attention on the industry sector, to wit, Ajaokuta Steel, a most wealth and employment generating centre, which has been left moribund for decades since it was commissioned. The government has brought in 23 advance team of Original Builders of Ajaokuta Steel Company from Russia for Technical Audit with a view to resuscitating the complex and make it viable for the benefit of Nigeria and its citizens. The Russians have already inspected several units like the thermal power plant, light mills and Oxygen Plant among others. And as international observers considered all these interventions of the Tinubu era in less than one a half years, they returned with a verdict that Nigeria now ranks as a Top Investment Destination in Africa. 

What were the yardsticks: economic performance and potential, market accessibility and innovation, economic stability and investment climate, as well as social and human development. What we deduce from all these is that although there are still challenges of foreign exchange shortages and infrastructure deficits, Nigeria is poised for a reawakening that would make it recognized as a giant not only in Africa, but also in the global space. All we need is to allow the Tinubu Administration a gestational era to be characterized by patience and cooperation on the part of the citizens.

*Oyatomi Esq. is a member of Independent Media and Policy Initiative, IMPI, Abuja.