By Lawan Maigana
The gory scenes of unrest, indescribable fear, hopelessness, mourning, massive burials, decayed bodies on the streets, economic downturns, and many others still traumatise me when I remember the bloodbath Maiduguri experienced between 2012 and 2014 due to the Boko haram insurgency.
This is just to remind our fellow youths what life would be like if the enemies within and outside succeed in mobilising innocent young people to collapse Nigeria under the guise of protesting against government policies they perceive as unfriendly to their well-being. Chances are that many would spend days hungry and unable to move freely even within their vicinities should the protest hold as planned. This is something I would never wish for my enemies, let alone my loved ones.
Those of us who are from Maiduguri will never want to experience another taste of war. It is obvious that some people want Nigeria to go to war, forgetting that no West African country can accept us as refugees if we break, due to our overwhelming population that surpasses half of the entire population of West Africa.
Politics aside, I am disappointed that a former minister is shamelessly offering to lead the protest despite coming from a fragile state where ethno-religious crises claim lives from time to time, depriving the state of peace and unity. I am sure his declaration is insincere, exploiting the present economic hardship for political relevance in the sight of the masses.
Recently, a few energetic guys came to me saying people like me should lead the protest given our influence on young people in our various states. I allowed them to land, and I asked if they knew who planned the protest, why the protest, and what it aimed to achieve. Looking sorry and confused they couldn’t answer me. Unfortunately, a lot of young people are like that. They don’t even know what they are protesting against and are used and dumped by enemies within.
Coming to the North, some Kano TikTok influencers are ignorant of the planned protest they are supporting because they seem to be unaware that Kano remains the only state in the North where people enjoy relative peace despite the power tussle going on in the Kano Emirate. Businesses are going on smoothly, and farmers are accessing their farmlands fearlessly, unlike in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, and Borno, where farmers write their wills every day before going to their farms.
One may then ask about the solution to the economic hardship facing Nigerians since I’m unapologetically condemning the planned protest and urging like-minded individuals to shun it. In my opinion, the solution is near, as our Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries will start operations soon. This will reduce the cost of production and transportation, thereby lowering commodity prices by default. The inflation is largely caused by the cost of transportation, which currently costs marketers twice the purchasing amount.
Therefore, I kindly call on the government to expedite the realisation of the refinery projects and commence operations as soon as possible because it is the only realistic and achievable approach to ameliorating the living standards in the country.
Maigana can be reached via Lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com
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