The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, South West Zone and All Workers Convergence, AWC, have called on Nigerians to stand tall against maladministration, untold hardship, and tyranny which according to the release are well-entrenched in All Progressives Congress led government.
The groups expressed their utmost concerns over pitiable state of the nation in a release jointly signed by National coordinator of AWC, Comrade Andrew Emelieze and NANS Zone D Coordinator, Comrade Kowe Odunayo Amos, which was made available to Vreporters by NANS Zone D Public Relations Officer, Comrade Kazeem Olalekan Israel on Wednesday.
The statement stressed that, Nigerians might not have seen the results of the poorly-thought-out policies of this government all based on the economic reality which is bitting harder on average citizens.
The statement partly read; “Rather than abate, the sufferings of the Nigerian people has continued to increase daily. It is as if there is a deliberate attempt by government to enforce hardship on her citizenry. Day-in, day-out, every policy and programme of this government has proven to be one of hostility and aggression against the Nigerian people. All that our government is, has been to bring more pains to the Nigerian people, and it has been the story of wailings and lamentations everywhere. Our government has shown us that ours is a government that specialises in torturing her citizens and brutally dishing out bitterness in the most salvage manner.
“Today, it is more of an unending war against Nigerians as government has, in a deliberate pursuit to devalue our national currency, lost all sense of passion for the Nigerian people. While the price of crude oil is increasing and our country is making more money, our people are visited with increment in the price of petroleum products and high cost of living. The position of the NNPC that the price of petroleum products will be increased when negotiations with labour is concluded is not a welcome development. In fact, the actions of the government have been a skillful and dubious way of subjecting Nigerians to chronic agony through artificial fuel scarcity in order to boost the profit of multinationals, fuel importers and marketers.
“On all fronts, Nigerians are being attacked by the anti-peoples’ policies of the government. We, the Nigerian people, will no longer tolerate the enforcement of hardship on the land by the government. We therefore call on the Nigerian people to take action and rescue Nigeria from total collapse by consistently organising to vehemently oppose every anti-peoples’ policies of this government.
“We, the Nigerian workers, students and the civil society therefore condemn the nascent attempt by government to increase the pump price of petroleum products. Hence, we issue a mandate to labour leaders negotiating with government that on no account will they allow for the increase in the price of petroleum products”.
The groups also decried increase in the pump price of petroleum products and called for immediate mass protest and the shutdown of all petrol stations nationwide, and that labour should immediately declare a national strike action.
“In solidarity with the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), we call on government to meet up with the demands of the Pensioners before the expiration of the 21days ultimatum else, the Nigerian workers and students will join them in the proposed strike action in solidarity.
“We, the Nigerian workers and students condemn in strong terms, government’s attack on the demands for restructuring. We support this genuine demand and we see such demands as legitimate. We maintain that power shift is simply an empty sop to the hard questions of society and national survival which restructuring poses.
“We also take a total exception to Buhari’s medical trip to the UK. The inability of the Buhari’s regime to build a single hospital capable of attending even to his own ill-health, despite spending over six years in office appals us. Of deeper concern is that while he seeks medical care in UK, Nigerian Doctors will be embarking on strike because of government’s inability to fund our hospitals and pay its Doctors.
“We also want to, by this text, notify relevant authorities of the failure of some higher institutions in the country to adopt and adhere by the unanimous decision of the House of Representatives which cancelled the payment of acceptance fee. It is our belief that acceptance fee is a hindrance to a student’s educational pursuit, and; we have seen instances whereby, prospective students, after the payment of acceptance fee, could not further the enrolment process because of the enormous amount paid as acceptance fee. We believe that if the educational sector were to be properly funded, there would not have been any reason for introducing acceptance fee. And it is on this basis we reiterate our call for the proper funding of the educational sector to enable our educational institutions to function optimally. We therefore call on relevant authorities to critically look into this issue for the payment to be totally abolished, to consider the wellbeing of the students.
“Of note is also the recent policy by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to use NIN registration as a precondition to writing exam. Aside from the cumbersome and corruption-ridden process of registration of NIN, we see this policy as a complete departure from the responsibility of the exam body and an unnecessary attempt to distract students who should be bothered themselves with studying in order to pass their exams. A Federal High Court had in fact prevented the Government and Telcos from blocking SIM cards of persons who have not registered for NIN in a suit instituted by Monday Ubani, while then should students be condemned to such rigorous, unnecessary and highly distractive exercise?
“As earlier canvased, preparations are in top gear for a mass protest against insecurity and bad governance in Nigeria. We call on Nigerians to take action and fight against bad governance in Nigeria and be prepared for this mass action. We call for more protest and that Nigerians should not get tired of protests as it is their fundamental right which cannot and must not be denied”.
Lastly, the groups called on the youths to rescue Nigeria from further decay by mobilising and taking part actively in the protest against bad governance as the youths are the vanguard of revolution and the genuine agents of change.
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