Success Nwogu 
The Country President of the United Nations Positive Livelihood Award Centre (United Nations-POLAC), Prof Mercy Funmilayo Adesanya-Davies, has appealed to the organisers of the national protest dubbed #EndBadGovernance and #EndHungerNow and other protesters to accept and obey the appeal of President Bola Tinubu that they should give peace and dialogue a chance.
Tinubu had in his nationwide broadcast appealed to the organisers of the protest and the protesters to suspend further protest and embrace dialogue.
He said: “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.”
In a statement on Sunday, Adesanya-Davies, pleaded with the organisers of the protest and the protesters to suspend the protest and explore a dialogue channel with the government.
She also noted the demands of the protesters which included: cutting down the size of government and governance; return of the petrol subsidy regime; food security, fiscal discipline and immediate reforms of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Other demands of the protesters were: reduction of unemployment; fix of the nation’s dilapidated roads, electricity access and affordability; and addressing insecurity.
The UN Chief also noted that the protesters demanded that the government tackle insecurity through transparency and accountability promote transparency in government transactions, budgeting, and contracting. Judicial reform is also needed to ensure swift and effective prosecution of corruption cases, with severe penalties for convicts, among other reforms.
She added that the protesters also demanded a declaration of state of emergency on inflation, disclosure of the pay package of lawmakers and that politicians should be paid as other Nigerians are being paid on the same salary grade, while opening separate accounts for senatorial allocations with committee’s supervision.”
Adesanya-Davies said: “These demands are a result of the economic hardship and high living costs that Nigerians are facing, which they believe are due to bad governance.
“However, I continue to plead with the protesters on the protest which commenced on 1st August 2024, to give the federal government more time to right their wrongs and that of the past administrations.”
She also reiterated her advocacy that the federal government should urgently look into the hardship occasioned by the subsidy removal and plight of the suffering masses in the country to completely avoid any form of protest in the nation both now and in future. She added that the government can do better.”
According to the statement, UN-POLAC is an international autonomous institution established in 2001. It was founded alongside the UN and UNESCO, following a General Assembly resolution declaring 2001-2010 as a decade of peace and non-violence.
It added that UN-POLAC’s Mandate and primary goal is to enhance the effectiveness of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UNESCO Culture of Peace Programme, which includes promoting peace and security, as well as restoring human dignity.
