Unemployed Nigerians, Minority Tribes, 34 Other Groups Plan 1-Million-Man March

Unemployed Nigerians, Minority Tribes, 34 Other Groups Plan 1-Million-Man March

Impressed by the decision of the federal government to liberalise the downstream petroleum sector which gives oil marketers the freedom to import fuel and sell at profitable margins not exceeding N145 per litre, a group called the Nigeria Unemployed Youth Vanguard is ready to embark on nationwide protests.

The group is being joined by the Conference of Minority Tribes in Nigeria and 34 other civil society organisations to organise what they have termed a one million-man march next Monday to express their support for President Muhammadu Buhari on the bold step he took in “removing fuel subsidy.”

The Nation reports that the coordinator of the march, Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, who spoke with newsmen in Abuja on Friday about the march, commended Nigerians on their trust in a government whose interest is in the common man.

He said: “We are not very poor as a nation, but certain elements called cabal had hitherto hijacked the system in the name of oil subsidy.

“Successive governments had tried to remove the oil subsidy otherwise known as deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry. It is either the previous governments lack the political will to salvage our dear country or lack the confidence of Nigerians in implementing such idea.”

The leader of the coalition stated further:

“In 2012, we mobilised ourselves as civil society bodies against the decision of the government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan to remove subsidy because we did not trust him, basically because he did not take practical steps that convinced Nigerians as President Buhari did by excluding oil subsidy from the 2016 Appropriation Bill, which is the working budget of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“It shows that Mr President belongs to nobody and belongs to everybody. We must support a true idea that promises hope for Nigerians.

“We have agreed to support the decision of the Federal Government, especially in the area of oil subsidy removal.

“As you can see, those protesting against oil subsidy removal are scanty, which shows that Nigerians are not with them.”

Ogenyi also called on the faction of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba to call of its strike action and stop seeking cheap popularity.