Youths Using EndSARS To Seek Good Governance – Activist

The co-convener of All Citizens Action Movement, Nze Kanayo Chukwumezie, has said the EndSARS protest was a symbolic way of asking for good governance in the country, adding that the age-long failure of leadership is the root cause of the ongoing youth revolution in the country.

Speaking with THE WHISTLER, on Thursday, Nze Kanayo also recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari angered Nigerian youths by calling them ‘lazy’ a few years ago.

In his words, “This is robbing one of one’s possessions and calling the person a poor person after making the person poor. I have been shouting that Nigerians are no longer being pushed to the wall, but into the wall. I saw implosion and warned that we guard against it by instituting good governance that will put the interest of the masses from all ethnic nationalities first. Right now, the country is in crossroads, and the only solution is taking the bull by the horn.”

He said the immediate way to pacify the oppressed Nigerian youths was to institute good governance, and stop wasting public resources on few privileged ones. Quoting him, “The era of wasting the resources of the country on office-holders should stop completely. SARS was only symbolic. The protest is about bad governance. Why should Nigerians buy employment? No good roads. No steady power supply. Why should rail lines not network all Nigerian cities? Why should government hospitals be mere consultation centres? Why should public schools lack qualified teachers and amenities? Why should any government worker earn below $200 a month while some political office-holders earn above $20,000 monthly? Why should we be a major oil producer and at the same time a major importer of oil products? All point to corruption; total absence of probity and accountability. That is what the youths that do not see any future are protesting.”

He regretted that government only knew how to tax her citizens without proportionate amenities to justify such, adding that, “They only know how to beat the masses and force them not to cry. Government institutions brutalize and intimidate Nigerians more than SARS.”

He also called for the immortalization of protesters that were killed in the ongoing protest. According to him, “Their names and pictures should be compiled and immortalized. They are the true soldiers of a free Nigeria. The government should do good by announcing 80% cut in salaries of all political office-holders. Mechanisms should be put in place to abolish the Senate and House of Representatives. The leadership of state Houses of Assembly can always converge to deliberate on matters when they arise. The executive too should drastically reduce the staff by 80% as civil servants should be the ones running the government.”

He called for the upgrade of salaries of civil servants, military, paramilitary and police to international standards, and the deployment of idle civil servants to the agriculture sector.

On resource control, the civil society activist said, “The era of coming to Abuja to share allocations by states should start winding down. Zones should manage their resources and make agreed remittances to the federal government. With this, regions will decide whether to maintain their number of states and local governments or reduce them. State police should be allowed while there will also exist a federal unit made up of officers from the zones. Army, navy, air-force, immigration and few other institutions shall remain federal but with adequate representation from all zones. We shall maintain single currency. These will douse this tension.”