Nigerians and Protests: Making a tool for change become irrelevant – Yanju Uwala

Without giving it a lost of thought, let me start by using the recent protest held across the country by the #RevolutionNow group towards call for end to bad government and for the purpose of restructuring the country, among other things which are of importance to the country, Nigeria. Yet we all can’t deny of the present situation the country is in today, we cannot deny having bad feelings of it, but how ready are we for a turnaround of the bad system we are in today?

Holding protests across the country as much as its part of clamouring for better governance as been a great instrument towards making those in government know the demands of her citizens, as it do happens in other lands, and hopefully there demands are surely fulfilled.

However, in Nigeria, this hasn’t been the result of the demands of the people to the government, and without an iota of truth, the government knows that we Nigerians are not really ready for a change, or let me say for good governance in the land, possibly that is why they keep on riding on us, because the way we make our demands known to them isn’t through good portion of the expected proportion.

Last year, 2019, the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Sheu, thanked Nigerians for not taking part in the protest, while in this year, 2020, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, called the protest a mere child’s play, and this statement could really mean a lot, even though some Nigerians reacted towards it, saying it’s hate speech and otherwise. But why could this have been so? What is the issue with Nigerians?

The recent protest, was also a test of show for Nigerians as some were against it, some were of the fearful mindset, some were of the support of the bad system and leadership we are in presently, some were of the hatred for the coordinator of the protest, while some are well not ready to stand for the betterment of the country. Many of us today, especially within the younger generation are of the mindset that since I already have a good paying job, or I have a good job on my own, what concerns me with activities going on within the basics of the country, inasmuch I am getting my own pay and affluences, therefore, I have not reason to join the call for a better system of government.

It’s just a shame that those with these mindsets are not ready to liberated from it, and anytime they desire to do so, it would have been of no value to them again, you may be poised to ask how. The Noble laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, once called his own generations a “wasted generation”, and I can remember a friend likewise tagging the generation of late Afenifere leader, also a wasted generation, this is because, these are people that supposed to have put in place better and reformed ways of government in the land but rather they are the ones making life more difficult for the country, definitely these people would bid the world bye, and would remain the present generation, so would you also want to be like the “wasted generation”, if we are not even wasted already.

Making things worst, and worst, the upcoming ones would now have the likes for the trend on ground, and this would become a part and parcel of them, so much that they would desire for the purpose of accumulating riches, since they believed it’s in the right direction. Are we not aware of the present trend of the Benefits Boys? Of course, it’s gradually coming up with no means to end or put a stop to what we are into today.

The society is going astray and getting more worse, and we all believe that since there is no war, since there is no crisis, since there is no problem, we can continue with our lives, whereas, what we are even facing today is worst than these shocks. Was it not recently that the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) national elections generated crisis, yesterday the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), also had their chairmanship election in the Enugu State branch, and it ended in crisis, so therefore, these are shots of what to expect if the necessary things are not done to ensure a good running of government in the country.

Yanju Uwala, a journalist with Penpushing Media, lives in Abeokuta