Following the outbreak of hardship protests in parts of the country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Federal Government and the Central Bank (CBN) have been urged to take control over foreign exchange rates, contain insecurity, and initiate programmes to boost food supply.

Ambassador Kalu Ofon Emmanuel, a public affairs commentator and the Lagos State Chapter President of the International Human Rights Protection Service, Florida, USA, who gave the advice in an interview with Sunday Independent, also maintained that the Federal Government should he humane, have listening ear and pay attention to the cries of the masses.

Dr Emmanuel lamented that the Nigerian masses have been impoverished to the extent that feeding has become a very serious challenge.

He stated: “In consideration of the outbreak of hardship protests, a roundtable dialogue and implementation of policies would bring solution to a considerable extent.

“If government officials would put themselves in the shoes of the poor innocent Nigerians, hardship would be eradicated.

“I assure you that if care is not taken, the hardship protest, if allowed to continue without the government providing a proper solution, what will happen will be worse than the ENDSARS protest. This may escalate, spreading to many other states.

“I put it to you that we have a confused, selfish government which has been making fake promises to the masses without implementation.

“They have been enriching themselves without action plans to salvage Nigerians from gross and suffocating poverty.

“Government should rise up to its core responsibilities. Invest in agriculture, fight against incessant increase of daily exchange rate, and provide security to the people so that farmers can have access to their farm lands.

“The moment the government has a compassionate mindset and is passionate about how to make food the commonest and cheapest thing, it would be a plus to them.”

Rev Dr Andrews Okhirehbu, a lecturer and cleric, who also spoke to Sunday Independent, asked: “Who told you that this present government will take anybody’s suggestions or advice?

“This government, by all indications, is telling us that they know more than everybody.

“Sincerely speaking, what are you going to advise a government that believes anybody that does not agree with what others say or doing; or any contrary opinion and suggestion is an instigation and attempt to commit treason against it and their party in power?

“Secondly, have they acknowledged that the citizens are in hardship and on the verge of near collapse?

“About two days ago, one of the state governors asked: ‘Why are Nigerians complaining where food in Nigeria is the cheapest in any place in the world?’

“The truth is that these political leaders do not care a dot measure of the rest of the people in the land, when all their families and cronies are living large by all indications of summation.

“Nobody should tell anybody that they don’t know what evil they are doing and that they don’t know the right things to do. No, we fool ourselves the more we think that is by our advice they will hear and know the right things to do?

“Sincerely, the protest in some states against the hardship in the land is only signaling a wake-up call to the government to please have mercy and be human and godly in considering that every single individual’s life in Nigeria matters as those of them in position of leadership and affairs of the nation.”

Also speaking, Comrade Osatohamhen Ebhohon, the State Publicity Secretary, African Action Congress (AAC), Lagos State, in his response to Sunday Independent, stated: “I remember the beautiful song by Omowumi titled ‘If you ask me’.

“Really, if you ask me, na who I go ask? The last time I checked, Tinubu asked Nigerians to make him president because he is an accountant, who graduated from Chicago State University and has working experience at Deloitte. So, he knows how to transform Nigeria’s economy.

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“Also this man is a former governor who, like his boys claimed, transformed Lagos. So, how is it that this man cannot use the same formula he used in Lagos to prevent hardship in the first place?

“Is it because the claims are all false and no formula exists? Or, is the magic wand which Sanwo-Olu claims Tinubu has, broken?

“These are questions we must ask Tinubu before moving on to propose solutions (if he cares to listen).

“During the last general elections, socialist inclined parties like the African Action Congress (AAC), were blacklisted by the media.

“All the major news channels deliberately prevented the masses from hearing our diverse perspectives on the subject of subsidy removal, floating of the naira and Nigeria self and food sufficiency, which is bedeviling us now and bringing about the hardship.

“The only perspective dominant on our media is how to turn public service and our commonwealth to a profit making business for the ruling class, which consists of politicians and corporate CEOs like Dangote, Otedola and Elumenu, etc, while neglecting the engine of the economy, that is the working people, to their fate.

“This takes us back to Tinubu’s Lagos. Turning public service and our commonwealth to a profit making business for the ruling class while neglecting the engine of the economy, that is the working people, to their fate is the reason Lagos has become a mega slum ruled by proxy, using thugs and political puppets.

“It is all about controlling the commonwealth of Lagosians for the benefit of Oligarchs of Lagos, which Tinubu heads.

“The planned economy that the AAC has proposed for Nigerians, which includes re-nationalising and nationalising critical national infrastructures, institutions like school hospitals, and sectors like agriculture, oil and gas, and other heavy industries, is the only right response to the outbreak of hardship protests.

“However, it threatens the ruling class. Imagine the Nigerian masses calling for a socialist planned economy that is built and optimised for the working class and poor people of Nigeria.

“That is trouble for those who have never made a dollar in their lives, without stealing from the masses with the help of their political sidekick, running Nigeria’s affairs.

“It will completely strip them off the power of controlling our commonwealth and using it to build personal wealth.

“That being said, it is a fool’s dream to expect neoliberal puppets masking as progressives and pro-democracy activists to govern with the people, not on behalf of the people (that is doing what they feel is right for the people according to IMF and World Bank without consultation with the people who elected them or who they imposed themselves on).

“So, advice from people like me is not what this regime is looking for. They would rather take advice on how to crush the revolution that their actions and inactions are brewing.

“Nonetheless, for the sake of posterity, I will say this. Except this regime switches economic plans to a socialist planned economy tailored to prioritise the needs and interests of the working class and impoverished individuals, designed and optimised to enhance their economic well-being, the hardship protest will continue to grow and spread until a people’s revolution comes out of it.

“They say capitalism is human nature right? Well, resistance to sorrow, tears, blood, and poverty is also human nature.”

Dr. Rexkennedy Saltlove, a political activist and public affairs analyst, President/Executive Director, Citizens Rights and Empowerment Advocacy Initiative (CREMA Initiative), stated: “Recommending solutions to the government in view of hardship protests ongoing, is Herculean.

“This is because, one is not sure if it will be adhered to and the process to alleviate the hardship will be implemented.

“A proactive government should know that in removing subsidy, there will be spiral effects occasioned by inflation on prices of goods and services and security concerns

“To address the hardship or hunger protests going on, the government should come out with an immediate/short, medium and long term approach.

“In the short term, the government must find what it can do to address the very hardship ASAP (as soon as possible).

“This is not about speaking grammar or giving false hope and doing paper talk. To a hungry man, give him food immediately.

“For transportation, provide affordable means. On security, secure the environment, before finding solutions to the immediate and remote cause of the hardship.

“In the medium term, the government should do what it can to cut down inflation drastically and in the long term, address the root cause of the inflation by being a producing and manufacturing country.

“It should encourage the nation to be self-sufficient and export-oriented with the aim to generate strong foreign exchange (FOREX) that can strengthen local currency and ensure its competitiveness, thereby beating inflation.” (Sunday Independent)

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