In the aftermath of the #EndBadGovernance protests across the country, the most palpable outcome is the rumour that we should anticipate another round of protests come October 1. Professional protest organisers have come to their season; they greet dawn each day with gestational plots of what would fetch them their much needed aliment via what they know how to do best.

The planned protest is rumored to go by the appellation, “revolution now.” As usual, they don’t seem to have a clearcut roadmap on how to reposition the country on the path of prosperity and development as part of their demands.

Their demands appear to be an agglomeration of everything, including the kitchen sink. Freedom fighters seek relevance everyday once they are sure human rights have been infringed upon. Where there are human rights abuses, you find human rights activists gathering momentum to make a case and seek redress.

There is an aspect of their undertakings that has unremittingly disquieted me: they don’t seem to take cognizance of how badly our economy suffers when they lay it supine by their demur actions; people are stopped from going to pursue their legitimate aspirations, prevented from going about their daily businesses, thus compounding the economic flow chart that is being stoked to provoke more economic activities for our common good.

When policies are put in place, and the implementation processes are frustrated by unpatriotic elements, it only amounts to a zero sum game. Before the October 1, brouhaha, the Bola Tinubu Presidency must save Nigerians the orgy of another downtool action.

It must show its sincerity, reasonably devoid of artifice, so as to cause an eruption of hope and change of course among the citizenry, while putting other things in place to deepen reassurances, and encourage productivity across the board.

The productivity level of our economy is nadir: that is our main problem. President Tinubu’s stamina is now being put to the test, and I know that he is equal to the task. The main reassurance that Nigerians need at this time is for all factors of production to be kept alive to their responsibility with the lowest level of entropy.

Nigeria has all the ingredients necessary for growth; but the citizenry must key into the initiatives and make the right moves to work the opportunities that would take us to the position we are desirous of.

We must defy and shun the negative enticements of our commonality that are therapeutic towards our goal. We are almost always dissonant and multifurcated when the discourse about our progress in unity comes to the fore.

We unfailingly introduce North/ South divide and religious bigotry. We differ on crucial issues and lose in the long run; not just because we are not earnest about our desires but because we are spooked and come to the issues with jaundiced eyes putting above all else, our selfish and myopic desires.

We need to restore the culture of honour in our nation. We take sides depending on the ethnic conclave of who is talking. The bond of oneness has travelled far, aimlessly walking in the wilderness in search of a compass to lead it to its home; a destination that would augur well for our nationality.

As they threaten to organize another protest on October 1, think the organisers are deliberately testing the resolve of the President, to see if he has the stamina to withstand the pressure or if he would capitulate to their real intentions.

The Nigeria of our dreams cannot be birthed from the ashes of protestations, demurring, agitations and violent engagements with the powers that be.

The Nigeria of our dreams will manifest through proper democratic practice, if we are all committed to supporting our people, whom we have voted for, for us, to attract the trappings of a healthy democratic practice without whipping up sentiments of political idolatry, bigotry, and ethnicity.

When we discuss in a democracy, all those multiple whammy that set us back should be footnoted but be extirpated. We should speak and act like Nigerians’ who are desirous to see one prosperous nation; not Nigerians who are defined by our ethnic and tribal leanings, and religious differences.

That insipient underlay has for long mired us down in the mud, hence we are where we are today. We loudly condemned the Tinubu/Shettima ticket as being all-Muslim diadem, but many are now struggling to grab items on the menu list.

The hypocrisy we display when it suits us, is part of the crux of the issues that beset us. Quite a number of seasoned and vocif

Let us shun this now characteristic protest, and the ennui it brings and join hands together, to help our country; and build a nation that will in no distant future, burgeon with opportunities for all

erously opined articles about President Tinubu’s economic policies and other of his initiatives being embarked upon to get the Nigerian economy on a stronger footing are currently being bandied.

Some criticized what they called the devaluation of the naira, others see the floating of the naira as another “dubious” economic policy that amounts to motion without movement.

But in accompaniment of these cursory contributions, no proposed alternatives that would yield ground for a more holistic solution to our economic challenges have been proffered.

During the SAP era for example, the Ibrahim Babangida administration, was badly criticized the policy as brown nosing the IMF/World Bank directives, even when our economy was formless at that time.

At that time too the critics didn’t render any alternatives as the antidote to a superior intervention rather than the IMF-tailored suggestions; but espousing the SAP led the liberalisation of our economy, and opening up the system to more infrastructure.

Banking, and other agencies of government went into the hands of citizens as a direct response to the challenges of the economy at that time; and today the rewards are clear. When your productivity is near nada, the currency is bound to face vagaries and fluctuations.

The Chinese devalued their currency, but increased their productivity such that demand for Chinese products naturally enhanced the value of their currency. Nigeria hardly produces foreign income spinners that could stimulate strength in our currency.

Prior to the SAP under IBB, the Nigerian government was the potentate of the nation’s economy: marketing boards, banking, broadcasting, export and import, were all wholly government controlled.

With the SAP, private sector involvement in our economy was implemented and the economy was boosted. The banking sector was liberalised, ditto for broadcasting, manufacturing, opening up of marketing boards, and direct access of buyers of farm produce.

For the first time, cocoa farmers in the South West of Nigeria got a boost for their farm produce: seedlings and nurseries were distributed and National Economic Reconstruction Fund (NERFUND) was established to promote small and medium scale enterprises through loans.

This was epochal, and marked a departure from the hitherto held doctrine that “only government could do business.”

As painful as the SAP was, the gains recorded catapulted our economy with the reconstruction initiatives that have endured till date.

While the Tinubu Presidency has taken the bull by the horn in most of her policy framework and projections, as citizens we need to follow through, and act on these initiatives to stimulate and kindle the local economic activities to reposition our ailing economy on the path of prosperity for the good of all.

The Tinubu Presidency has already taken some bold steps: students loan board, credit facility initiative, the CNG vehicles to cushion the impact of subsidy removal, cleaning up of the bureau de change business, conditional cash transfer, and a host of other short term measures to attract positive action, and not just talk.

It’s time for all hands to be on deck. The times call for insular and collective action. In conclusion, those who are planning to carry out another protest should please re-channel their energies and think of how they can contribute to what the government is doing already.

They should note that the more protest they embark on, the more they stymie our progress, and the more the economy suffers. We cannot be killing productivity and enterprise and expect to hit the super highway of prosperity.

We need all the factors of production to operate at indeed transcendent levels to recover the economy. This idea of thinking that we must kill the employer because we want to help the employee will lead us nowhere.

We must protect both the employer of labour and the employees that drive the wheel of production. It is a symbiotic relationship that need be steeped in understanding, and innocuous intentions.

Those planning the October 1, pro – test should factor in the immediate effect on the poor, whose pain has been unremitting. Those who want to put the stamina of the President to the test, must reckon that this is a democracy: a democracy in which the citizens in government were resoundingly voted for by majority voters.

When you test the resolve of a government, no matter how languid you think it is, the reaction could be counterproductive.

Let us shun this now characteristic protest, and the ennui it brings and join hands together, to help our country; and build a nation that will in no distant future, burgeon with opportunities for all.

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